The Demon of Butcher Bay
by Upon a Pale Horse
Summary: Naruto/Ryuu, grew up in Butcher Bay, never knowing who he really was. after meeting Riddick, and thus escaping when he was able, sets out to find out who he really is, and why he was put in prison as a baby. NaruHina
1. Chapter 1

Daichi Nara was an old man now. He had been in Butcher Bay longer than he cared to remember. Years behind these walls meant little, nothing actually. He had been a young man when he had been sent here, and it took a long time to realize that it was justified.

Butcher Bay was the only triple max slam in the world; it was as infamous as it was cruel. It didn't house the same type of prisoners that you would think it would though. Though it held its fair share of murders, rapists, pedophiles, psychos and every other kind of villain that you could think of, you didn't just have to be the worst to end up here. Most of the inmates here committed crimes that easily warranted the death penalty, so why would they send them to prison instead? The reason was that Butcher Bay was where they sent the ones they were ashamed of.

Usually, prisoners ended up here because it was convenient for who was ever in power. Prisoners either had connections and simply couldn't be killed, or they had enough supporters and family pull to avoid such things, so they sent them here instead. All it really did was extend their lives a little longer. There were no terms in Butcher Bay, no one ever left, at least no one was ever released. Once you were in, you stayed until you died. They took your name and a record at the gates, and sent you into hell. Guards patrolled the underground prison, but they were on edge, and not interested in helping anyone for any reason other than when bribed.

Ninjas were no exemption either. They of course got permanent seals placed on them to severely limit chakra flow and such things, but for the right price, if you made the right friends, there were one or two seal masters in that place, or at least good enough with seals to know how to get rid of them, Daichi Nara was one of them.

Because of the nature of place, the sheer number of prisoners, and the lack of order that it was founded on, Butcher Bay was as close to hell as you could get. It was different from other prisons because of its detached efficiency. The guards could contain the cons', but never control them. So inside there was only anarchy, madness, and death. Being underground for so long, most simply went crazy and were killed because they were annoying. Daichi had held on to his sanity though, it was all he had.

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

He had once wanted to escape this place, but that was well beyond him now, he was too old, and besides, he had no one waiting and nowhere to go. The Nara clan specialized in shadow manipulation jutsu; they were the best at it. And considered a prodigy in his youth, he saw the potential to take it so much farther. He wanted a bloodline limit for his clan.

He knew the origins of all bloodlines found themselves in demonic roots; no one ever talked about it though. So, he set out and found a demon, a demon that could give him what he wanted, and worked out a deal. Despite what some take for granted, summoning contracts gave as much to demons as they did to the ninja that they served. With a summoning contract in existence, that demons clan had almost free rein to come to their plane.

Normally, other clan members would have been fine with this, even happy, it just so happened that while this demon clan wasn't completely evil, they were pretty nasty all the same.

In his foolishness, he had thought the trade off was worth it, he now saw how very wrong he was. While the blood line was indeed powerful, and it didn't come at that much of a cost, it still had some draw backs. One of these was the requirement of strong mental fortitude to be able to resist the dark cravings that would plague the users mind for the rest of their life, like whispers in the back of your head.

He was arrogant, and had thought that with proper guidance, this could be controlled. But now he saw that it was stupid to think that they could predict the personality of children, and on that note, it was unfair to burden someone against their will. If one of them became unstable and went rouge, things could get very bad; these techniques could be very hard to overcome unless utilized by another one of them

While it wouldn't have been so bad if he had simply made it so that when one of them came of age they could chose whether or not they wanted it, it was already done. Whatever children he had, would inherit his gift. When they could not convince him to not have children, and it became obvious that he was going to do it anyway, they sent him here. He was loyal after all, and his heart had been in the right place, but he was still a risk.

Thank god he was not foolish enough to fight back though. As powerful as he had become, he could not take on an entire clan and come out of it alive. And even if he could, he still would have killed many of his loved ones.

And so, they placed a seal on him that even he couldn't get rid off, and sent him to Butcher Bay. The seal, while it couldn't seal off his chakra completely, it did prevent him from ever using any of those jutsus again, they required too much chakra to perform.

And so, he held on in prison, for no other reason than he didn't feel like dying yet. Then one day, he found an apprentice, a man, or rather a teenager at the time, who was indeed an animal, but never the less, had qualities that he could respect. The man's name was Riddick.

Their meeting was strange, and accidental, sort of. Riddick had come to him in search of a seal master to remove the limiter seal on him. That in itself he respected, he had no idea how this man had found him. He had never publicized his knowledge, and had never removed anyone else's seal before. So how had he known that he could indeed do it? Riddick said that a Nara would definitely know how to remove a seal. That shocked him too; he had never told anyone that little bit.

When he asked who had told him, Riddick told him that he had, this man was a genius in his own right. He had a gift, getting out of places that no one else could was one of them. Not only that, but Riddick had his own bloodline limit that was a force to be reckoned with, he was a furyan, probably the last.

Over time, the two had become estranged friends; he had even agreed to help Riddick escape out of sheer curiosity to see if he could achieve it. Riddick had indeed accomplished it, but not before he had given him a parting gift. He had thought hard on it, and conserved his energy to do it, but he finally had enough chakra to summon the contract. Riddick accepted the terms with no hesitation at all. While he was not sure, because Riddick was not born into it, but he may or may not pass it on to whatever children he may have. Daichi was not worried about that though.

That was a long time ago, or at least that was what it seemed like. In reality it had only been like five years. Then, he heard two things that he had not heard in over forty years, silence, and an infant crying. Suddenly, it was chaos. The guards that were apparently bringing the child down were almost over whelmed. It was a little surprising that anyone would care, but these men didn't need a reason to go berserk.

The guards killed quite a few to get to a calm enough area where the child wouldn't be torn apart the second they set it down. Daichi had no idea what an infant had done, or rather what its parents had most likely done.

He shouldn't really interfere, getting involved in other people's business was a sure way to get yourself killed in here. But one look at the animals looking at the babe with hungry eyes sealed the deal.

With that thought, he marched right up to the guards with the authority he had earned. You didn't get to his age in here without earning respect, and favors. He may have been an old man now, but he was not an easy take, he had put down his fair share of animals in his time. And with that right, he walked right up to the guards that were killing any other that came too close.

He could tell the guards were uneasy right now. They were very hard and cruel men, but even they knew that it was monstrous to leave a child down here. With a hesitant look to the other guards, the one holding the baby handed it over, though he did it in a way that would save face, he grabbed the blanket behind his neck, and held him like you would a puppy. To his surprise, instead of crying, the baby instead started growling. Even through the faceless masks that the guards wore, that they were shocked.

Even still, he took the child and left with haste, he only had a few minutes before a couple hundred monsters were hunting him.

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

Five hours later, and things had predictably gone back to normal. He was in his little hiding spot; no one would find them here. He immediately set to see if the child had a seal placed on him. The child was going to need every chance to survive, he would be damned if the child died because he had been held back in any way.

Imagine his surprise when the seal was way beyond anything he had ever seen. It was the most intricate, complicated, piece of art that he had ever seen. Whoever had done this, was a master in every sense of the word. It took a while to figure out exactly the purpose, but he was shocked to find that the child was a jinchuuriki; there weren't very many things that required something of that caliber. While he didn't know which Bijju it was, he had his suspicions; it really wouldn't matter for a while anyway.

On the plus side, the guards had been too stupid to see it for what it was, and therefore had not bothered to place a restriction seal on the baby.

With a sigh the old Nara thought about what he had to look forward to. Some form of diapers, trying to figure out how to properly feed the kid, not to mention trying to figure out how to deal with the kid calling him dad. One way or another, this kid was going to be emotionally fucked up when he got older. Prison was no way to grow up.

'Why not? I haven't done anything useful in the last forty years besides helping Riddick out, why not try to do some good before I die?' the old Nara thought with a ghost of a smile on his lips, but that quickly turned into a scowl as he realized the infant had to be changed.

**Seven years later:**

Ryuu was enjoying his training for the 'day'. It was very rare that he was allowed to leave the small abandoned storage center where he and his 'father' lived. To make things more exciting, this was the first time he was allowed out by himself. He was told he was ready, finally. As soon as was able, he had been trained in the ways of the shinobi.

He had to be very careful; he was by no means ignorant to what would happen to him if he were caught. But for now, he had a mission, to get some fresh meat. As mundane as this might sound, it was still his first mission and he intended to successfully complete it. There wasn't any truly dangerous game here, well, nothing that was edible anyway. Daichi had once brought him down to watch those scary bug things tear a few people apart.

He was almost done, he had successfully bypassed the only area where other prisoners were, it was easy, no one ever looked up, and the shadows were his ally. Now, all he had to do was silently kill, and then skin the small creature, that roughly looked like a cross between a rat, and a dog. Not that Ryuu knew what those were, but all the same they were surprisingly healthy.

Stalking his prey, standing on a rafter above it, he smoothly stepped off and landed on it burying his knife in its skull in the process. It was dead, he was very happy, that was fun. Now he needed to hurry, he only had a few minutes before the scent of blood attracted more of them. While not dangerous by themselves, together, they could be a problem.

With practiced efficiency he finished up, wrapped it up, and left. He wanted to run, to get back and show that he was could be a ninja after all. He wanted to make his father proud. But he reminded himself to keep cool, haste led to folly. So, he kept to the shadows, making sure that no one would know he was there. As he passed overhead the small yard that had a couple of faggots screwing. Ryuu sneered in disgust; he wanted to kill them, every one of these monsters, but not yet.

**XXXXXXXXXXX**

Daichi waited nervously, it was the first time the boy was out on his own. During the course of the last six years, the child had proven himself to be a sort of genius. Even still, he refused to let the boy gain a superiority complex. While he was never indifferent to the kid, he never gave out affection without cause either. For the most part it worked. Speaking to him was the only contact the child had with anyone, add the fact that Ryuu viewed him as a father, and you had a kid that was willing to do anything to gain his approval. Even though Daichi had told him the circumstances of their bond, and how he was not his biological father, Ryuu didn't care.

That being said, he was never cold to him either, he just didn't want to create a superiority complex. But still, the child's brilliance was undeniable. It was strange, it was like he could learn things, but he needed to understand them first. He wanted to know why things worked out they way they did. While this slowed down progress, it also led to a level of mastery and understanding that was well beyond his years. He was so creative, and had enough of an active imagination that he was able to start coming up with moves that were actually jutsus that were a level or two above him.

That was not the only training that he gave the child, he tutored him in all the subjects that he knew, which was everything from politics to philosophy. Needless to say, Ryuu did not exactly excel at these subjects. Even still, he made a point to clarify that he would not teach him anything else jutsu or fighting wise until he was satisfied that he had learned enough. Though, he clearly saw the practical hatred of politics and such, he would be a man of action, not one to plot and scheme. In some ways that was good, in others it was just frustrating. Even still, he accepted that that was not Ryuu's path, and so he accepted that and concentrated on more practical subjects.

As he was thinking on that subject, Ryuu came in and kneeled before him. This was something that he had ingrained into Ryuu's head, while he was on any mission; they no longer had the relationship of 'father and son'.

"Mission accomplished sir." Ryuu said in a serious voice.

"Were you detected?" Daichi asked in an equally serious tone.

"No, I was just another shadow in the dark." Ryuu could not hide the pride and borderline arrogance in his tone. But Daichi could also tell that Ryuu was fighting that down, that was good, but all the same, he would have to humble the boy a little later on.

"Well done." Daichi said with a smile, breaking the serious mood. With that, Ryuu also stood up with a smile and headed to the cleanest spot in their home to start preparing dinner.

Daichi sighed looking at Ryuu enjoying the rat thing; he wished that he could give the child real food. Even still, the Kyubi that was sealed in the boy kept him for the most part nourished, but it couldn't completely compensate for everything. One day he knew, Ryuu would leave this place, and make a life of his own outside these walls, he was just sorry that the boy could not at least be shown what a tree looked like.

Sure, the occasional dirty magazine that found its way down here had snippets of pictures of the outside world, but even still, it was not enough. He made sure that the boy had the drive to escape this place though, he would not have it, Ryuu must leave this place.

After their meal, Daichi made it a point to destroy Ryuu at a game of shoji. It needed to happen, but all the same, the kid never let anything discourage him. But that didn't mean that he couldn't be humbled a little bit.

**Six years later:**

Ryuu took a deep breath, meditating was always hard for him, but not impossible. At the moment, it might as well not exist, he was in pain. Not physical, but emotional, something that he had practically no experience in. sure, Daichi had taught him about emotions, assuring him that one day he would experience them, but this was far worse than he could ever imagine. Daichi, his master, his father, was dying. They both knew it was coming, but it still wasn't enough to prepare him for this. If he could cry, he would, but he had apparently lost that ability a long time ago.

He was focusing his breathing, he had to prepare, he had been training his whole life for this moment. Daichi was going to summon the contract that would give him access to summons, and the bloodline that he had been working so hard to earn. They didn't know if summoning the contract in his weakened state would kill him, but all the same, he was going to do it. It may be his parting gift, but it was something that he would never forget.

He had given Ryuu plenty of advanced notice as to what signing the contract meant, and what it meant, Ryuu didn't hesitate at all. Though he admitted that he had been influenced by his idol, Riddick. While he had never met the man, he still idolized him. Daichi didn't hide the truth from him, while Riddick was all the things that he had told Ryuu he was; he was still a mass murderer.

After he started to get better, he made a point to have fun hunting down the most evil men that he could find. Unlike all the other shinobi here, he could use his chakra as much as he wanted; he killed a lot of people.

By the time he was eleven, he didn't have to hide in the shadows all of the time now. While he still had to be careful, he was known. The second he openly starting using jutsu and killing people, he was targeted by the guards. Convicts weren't supposed to be able to use jutsu. Even though the guards were all ninja, most of them never came back. He could take the new recruits, the Genin, he could take out a Chunin if they were in single combat, but he never even tried to fight the Jonin that sometimes came looking for him. Most of the time he didn't really have to fight, he was an assassin, usually killing without ever coming out of the dark, but occasionally he still had to fight in the open.

Eventually, after they couldn't find him, they decided that it was a waste of time to hunt him down. Unless the guards were looking for him, he left them alone, and only went after the cons. What did they care? It didn't matter, so he was left on his own to hunt down the worst that he could find.

He was known though, he did come out in the open sometimes, so everyone knew who he was, he just never stuck around long enough for enough of them to gather the courage to attack him. After six months of killing, he got an alias from the prisoners.

He was known as 'The Demon of Butcher Bay'. He loved it; even Daichi thought it was fitting.

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX **

Daichi took a deep breath; he was ready, ready for the summons. He was not sure he would survive this, but he was dying anyway. Everything was ready. If he died, he had written everything Ryuu would need to know.

He looked at the kneeling boy in front of him, happy that the boy was genuinely humbled at the gift that he was going to receive. The boy In question was a tad short for his age, but he was sure that he would grow taller once he got out and started eating healthy food, or at least healthier food.

Ryuu was wearing camouflaged fatigues, with combat boots to mach. He had a mesh t-shirt, with a light combat armor over it. It was nothing much, just enough to help deflect things really, but that was fine, it was flexible. It was a formfitting, piece of light tactical armor. Ryuu had cut his hair short, but there was still at least an inch left. He also had the odd whisker like birth marks.

"Are you ready? Once you sign the contract, there is no turning back; you will be bound by the rules for the rest of your life." Daichi in all seriousness. He had explained in full exactly what that meant, the almost faint whispers that were always there, not actually voices, more like impulses. Ryuu was confident that he could deal with that. Several times he had talked with the Kyubi, the great fox offering him the power to escape this place, enough power to do anything he wanted. It was tempting, but he didn't want anything having that kind of influence over him, he wanted to make his own choices, carve his own path.

Daichi had never had any experience with jinchuuriki before being imprisoned, but he was sure that there were ways to control the power without setting the beast free. Ryuu just decided that he would figure it out later.

Without hesitating, Ryuu answered. "Yes master, I am ready, and willing to accept the burden, and responsibilities that it entails. I am honored and humbled by your faith in me. You have my word that I will make you proud." Ryuu said as he was kneeling. After a few moments, Daichi nodded.

"So be it." And with that, he started the very hard process of gathering enough chakra to summon the contract. After a few minutes of hard concentration, he bit his thumb and started forming the seals. After quite a few, he slammed his hand down, and with a puff of smoke, there was the contract in all its glory. Ryuu however, went to his master's side first. He was unconscious, but otherwise alive. Relieved, he turned his attention back to the contract.

He opened it, and did as he was told before all of this happened. He signed it right under Richard B. Riddick. However, something a little surprising did happen. After he coated his thumb in blood and pressed it on the contract, instead of Ryuu, another name appeared. Naruto Uzumaki. Daichi had told him this might happen. Though it would only happen if he had been named prior to being sent here, it didn't really matter anyway.

With a smile, which were almost rare for him, he completed the process, and went ahead and dismissed the contract. He did want to try it out, but he would not until either his master passed on, or could do it with him, it was a moment that he wanted to share with him, the old man didn't have long to live anyway.

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

Two months later and Daichi was still fighting, hanging in there as long as he could. He never really recovered after the summoning, but he was ok with that. He was weak, and was close, he knew it, he just didn't want to pass on just yet. As long as he could, he wanted to teach Ryuu as much as he could.

Ryuu was amazed at the possibilities that were now available to him. The bloodline was indeed remarkable, dangerous, and totally suited him. The eye shine that came with it was amazing as well.

He was anxious to start summoning; he knew he had to be careful. Daichi had warned him that he couldn't use to much chakra, otherwise the summon would be too powerful for him, and he would die. He naturally had a lot of chakra, though not very good chakra control. After a week or two, he was ready.

"Are you ready, do you remember what I told you?" Daichi asked with a little bit of concern and a little amusement as well. This was either going to go very well, or very bad. So far Ryuu was only able to summon babies, though fierce, they still were nothing compared to what he knew what was available. Now though, he was confident that Ryuu finally had enough control to get it right. However, like all summons, there was a test, and that test would either seal the deal, or kill him.

"I've got it." Ryuu said with confidence, almost being cocky, but also keeping it under control. Though he wouldn't admit it, he was a little nervous about the whole thing, but he was equally excited as well. With a deep breath, he bit his thumb and started the seals. And without yelling out summoning jutsu, as he had been taught to not yell out and give his enemies advanced notice, he slammed his hand down on the ground.

With a poof of smoke, growling could be heard, feral, and fierce. Ryuu almost gasped, but held firm. The creature was something right out of a nightmare. It was his first time seeing a true Hellhound. It stood four feet at the shoulder, and was almost eight feet long, not including the tail. Covering it were scale like things that seemed to change color, right now they were flashing crimson, it was pissed. Something else he noticed, was besides the wicked teeth in its jaws, was that its feet, while still retaining the shape of a paw, had five appendages', and they seemed to be just as useful and dexterous as his hands, apparently even having an opposable thumb.

However, its most distinguishing feature by far, were its eyes, they looked just like his. They reflected a silverish shine that was terrifying. Holding his ground, Ryuu met its gaze, and refused to break eye contact. After a few moments of stare down, the hellhound attacked, Ryuu held his ground and jumped at just the right moment. Swinging on its back, and refusing to be torn off. After a few minutes of furious fighting, with the hellhound jumping on and off walls, snarling, and otherwise trying to tear him apart, it finally settled down.

Ryuu knew what the next part was, so he got off the summons back, and stood unmoving in front of it. After a moment, it reached out and bit him on his shoulder, just enough to draw blood. After the hellhound was satisfied, it kind of bowed to him, and then let Ryuu pat it roughly, it actually started rumbling in content. Ryuu was very happy, it was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen, and he made sure to tell it that. After a few minutes of this, he bowed back to the creature, but before he could dispel it, it started talking to him.

"Little one, most impressive. Don't wait too long to escape this place, my lord will want to meet with you face to face." It said in its deep and almost sinister voice. Ryuu only grinned.

"Of course, I will the moment I am able." Ryuu said with another bow. After the hellhound nodded, it dispelled itself. Ryuu let out an audible sigh of relief before he hears clapping. He turned around to see Daichi sitting down with a blanket over him, and a bald man in a black tank top clapping.

'Riddick,' Ryuu thought in awe.

"So, this is the Demon of Butcher Bay, very interesting." Riddick said with a ghost of a smile.


	2. Chapter 2

For a moment, Ryuu didn't know what to do. After a moment's hesitation, he ran up to them, and bowed to Riddick.

"It's an honor sir." Ryuu said in a sincere tone. He never thought he would actually get to meet the man. Riddick just nodded. There was an awkward moment of silence before Daichi spoke up.

"Ryuu, we have to talk, why don't you go scalping, and get something decent to eat while you're out there." Ryuu got the point, but still, he nodded with a savage grin and took off. He knew that they didn't want him to be around, that was fine. Daichi would never let Riddick go without letting him ask a few questions, that is, if Riddick was ok with it.

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

After Ryuu took off into the darkness, Riddick gave a low chuckle.

"Cute kid. You did just say scalping right?" Riddick asked, his curiosity being brought up.

Daichi just laughed. "Yes, how do you think he got the name? He hangs them up over his next targets, and he always gets them, always." Daichi said with a slight shaking of his head, but Riddick could tell that he was proud of him.

They both settled down, they needed to talk. Daichi started first.

"Your only in this place because you want to be, so what do I owe the honor too?" Daichi asked with a weak smirk.

Riddick just kept his face passive, for the most part. Daichi could have sworn that he saw a ghost of a smile on his face for a moment. While Riddick was usually calm and collected, the man was not beyond the occasional smile.

"I was told that you let someone sign the contract. I didn't have to come, but I had to see this, especially after I heard the rumors that have been coming out of this place." Said Riddick.

"Really, who told you?" Daichi just played innocent for a moment until Riddick gave him a look that told him that he knew that he knew. Daichi just sighed.

"Id figured as much, probably asked you to come check it out yourself, but I doubt you'd come just for him, unless you owed him a favor?" Daichi said with a raised eyebrow.

"yes he asked me, more for the same reasons that I was curious though, I would have come anyway, I never thought you'd let anyone sign that thing again." Riddick said in the knowing tone that he usually had.

"Obviously the boy is not ready to face him yet, but you wouldn't let him go through this far without believing he could. So really, how much potential does he have?" Riddick asked, obviously intrigued.

Daichi just sighed, "I can say without a doubt, that his power is real. It's kind of a long story though." Daichi warned as he gestured to a chair. Riddick took it without question. While Riddick would not bow to any man, he did have respect for this one; he was his master after all. He owed him that much at least.

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

Riddick let out a low whistle. "ok, I get how you came to figure out that he is indeed a jinchuuriki, but how do you know that's it's a Bijju, especially the fox?" Riddick asked, now very interested.

Daichi just sighed again, but more so from just being tired. "It was a dead giveaway after I examined the seal. The thing is so perfect and so powerful that it would be beyond overkill for it to be used on anything but a Bijju. But what led me to know that it was indeed the Kyubi was that Ryuu has actually spoken to it." Daichi said in a grim tone. Riddick just raised an eyebrow at that.

"The kid has spoken to it? If he can do that, has it tried to posses him?" Riddick asked now more interested than ever.

"No, the seal is too perfect, and the fox knows it. It has offered power, but he hasn't taken him up on it yet." Daichi said in a somewhat relieved tone.

"Yet?" Riddick asked, not missing anything.

"Yes, not yet. The opportunity is simply too great. I don't blame the boy either; I'm not exactly one to talk anyway." Daichi said with a light chuckle. "The only reason that he hasn't taken the Kyubi up on it is because he knows that he doesn't have the control necessary for it yet. While the Kyubi wouldn't be able to posses him, he wouldn't be able to control it either, and he hates the idea of that." Riddick nodded in understanding.

"So, how long do you have?" Riddick asked in his usual deep tone.

"You don't seem too saddened by the news." Daichi said with an offended and yet playful look. Riddick just shrugged.

"No one wants to die, but everybody gets too." Daichi just responded with a short laugh.

"How true, I probably only have a few hours left, I'm getting tired. Luckily, it doesn't look like it will be painful." Riddick just nodded, and then looked down thinking.

"I'll do it. I'll only give it a year though, after that, the kids on his own." Riddick said in a neutral tone. But Daichi could sense something else there, but he couldn't identify it.

"What do you mean?" Daichi said in mock innocence, he knew from the moment Riddick watched the boy ride the hellhound fearlessly that this was going to happen.

"Don't play the fool old man; you know exactly what I'm talking about. Besides, there isn't anyone else alive that can school the boy in the jutsus that come with the bloodline. Besides, if the kids half as good as you claim, it will be very interesting to see how far he can go." Riddick said, actually smiling some. Daichi just chuckled; he knew that was the reason this was going to happen. That was the only reason that Riddick pursued anything, if it interested him.

"Thank you, it wasn't my intension, but over the years, he has become the son that I never had, but always wanted. He is definitely flawed, as to be expected, but I love him." Daichi said the truth projected in the warmth in his voice. Riddick just nodded, completely understanding him. Once upon a time, something similar had happened to him. The difference was that he cared to much to stay with her; she deserved the chance at a normal life.

"I think you should know, as I do know what you want for him. Those things are probably a little more complicated than you think. Thirteen years ago, the Kyubi attacked Konoha, and the Yondaime Hokage sacrificed his life to defeat it. As he ended up here, Ryuu will probably not be welcome there." While Daichi made no attempt to hide his shock, he did notice that that was the first time that Riddick referred to Ryuu by his name.

'This is very unsettling. When I was sent here the village had only been founded a few years before. But this doesn't make any sense, unless there have been drastic changes, the ideals that the village was founded on would be completely against that.' Daichi thought with a concentrated look. He then realized his mistake. He had been in imprisoned so long, that he had made the mistake of thinking of the outside world as a just and peaceful place.

'People are people after all. I suppose I could see something like this happening if the Kyubi attacked them, the casualties must have been devastating.' Daichi thought grimly. But with a sigh he spoke his mind.

"Be that as it may, Ryuu will still want to go there eventually. I will not hide this from him, he deserves to know. Besides that, he will undoubtedly be attracted to the village. Even though its practically on the other side of the world, as I remember it, if it is as tolerant of all the abilities and such as it was when I was there, it will be one of if not the most powerful villages out there." Riddick just nodded, expecting this to be the truth.

"I can understand that, it is to be expected. Anyway, is there anything that I should be aware of?" Riddick asked. Daichi thought that he could hear a touch of grimness in his tone, but he wasn't sure. Daichi just chuckled again.

"Besides the fact that Ryuu idolizes you, not really. You pretty much got the jist of his personality back there." Riddick just nodded. "So, care to tell me what you've been up to the last eighteen years? You've certainly grown, last time I saw you, you were just another scrawny teenager." Daichi said grinning. Riddick just shook his head, though he was unable to deny what he was right, it didn't mean that he had to encourage it though. So with that, he started to fill in the gaps about what he had been up to, and finally to how much the world had changed since Daichi had been out. Though, it wasn't all that much new news. Sure, people died, villages and countries fell, and new empires came and went. But really, it was all the same, same shit, new day. Nothing ever changes.

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

Ryuu took a deep breath, he was in there. He was right outside their hideout, and Riddick was still here. He was almost shaking with excitement, and a little bit of fear, he couldn't be sure.

He was so worked up after he left, that he really put his all into hunting today. Usually he would kill only a few people every few weeks. If he killed to many, the prison would be forced to hire some very serious ninja to hunt him down. He did not want to die just yet.

In the last couple of hours, he had killed and scalped seventeen people, or rather, monsters. He hated them all to begin with, but he especially hated the rapists and pedophiles, something was just disgusting about them. Daichi had told him many stories of the outside world, and had told him about the laws and such, and especially why men like these were locked away. Ryuu liked that, and truly wanted to see it for himself. Daichi assured him that he would one day, he would see to it.

Ryuu took another deep breath, 'suck it up, it's not like he's going to hurt you, probably. You have to go in there sometime.' Ryuu thought to himself as he found his resolve. So with that, he entered their secret home, and just smiled at the site of his father, and Riddick sitting and talking. After they both looked his way he smiled and walked up to them.

Riddick could smell the blood on him, well not exactly on him. The kid clearly was good enough to not get himself covered in it. But all the same, he could smell it.

"Mighty uncivilized thing you've done." Riddick said in his usual stoic deep voice. Ryuu just grinned. Daichi just laughed, it was time he finished this.

"Ryuu, as a favor, Riddick is considering apprenticing you. Would you accept?" Daichi asked in a suddenly serious tone. Though he didn't need to share a look with Riddick, Riddick understood where he was going with this. He had already agreed to teach the kid, but Daichi wanted to revile his character. It was working; Ryuu eyes were huge, clearly shocked and awed.

After a moment, Ryuu remembered the manners that Daichi had taught him. He doubted that Riddick would care, but all the same, he would be polite to the people that he respected. Everyone else could go to hell.

Ryuu kneeled down, bowing his head, "sir, I would be humbled and honored if you would take me as your apprentice. If you do, I give you my word that I will put every fiber of my being into your training." Ryuu said, still not looking up.

Riddick considered his words. 'Interesting indeed. He did not say that he would do whatever I wanted him to like I expected he would. That means that he has at least some semblance of a conscious. Growing up in here that means two things, Daichi is an excellent father figure, and the kids resolve is far greater than is normal.' After a few more seconds of considering his words, Riddick responded.

"Very well, I accept you as my apprentice for the time being. I'm going to train you for one year." Riddick said raising a single finger to demonstrate his point. "Just one to get good enough to become powerful enough to impress the boss hellhound. He is not forgiving, and he isn't exactly patient. I will send word to him that I am preparing you for him; he should be content to wait a year.

"However, after this year is over, you're on your own. If you're not ready, and you don't summon him, he will come to you. And trust me; you don't want to make him do that." Riddick said in a stern, and yet still stoic tone. There was a reason that he didn't tell Ryuu the bosses name, he wouldn't want anybody to know it unless they earned the right to have it given to them. The boss was ancient, as are most demons that are powerful. Back when he was young, giving your name meant something; it wasn't an honor to be taken lightly.

"I understand master." Ryuu said simply, finally looking back up at Riddick who had since taken off his goggles. Shined eyes meeting shined eyes, for a moment nothing happened, and then Riddick nodded and walked a little ways away before performing the summoning jutsu. The same hellhound that Ryuu had summoned appeared and shockingly slightly bowed to Riddick.

"What do you need? I sense no enemy." The hellhound asked in confusion. Riddick pulled out a scroll that he had written while talking to Daichi earlier.

"Take this to him; it explains what is to happen with the boy." Riddick said simply. The hellhound nodded and took the scroll in its jaws before dispelling.

"I have a few things to check up on, his time is running out, I suggest you say goodbye." Riddick said, actually sounding a little sad. Ryuu just nodded. Riddick then seemed to melt into his shadow on the ground and disappeared. Daichi laughed at the comical exaggerated expression on his face.

"Am I going to be able to do that?" Ryuu whispered out in awe.

"Yes, that and much more. But I'll leave it to him to teach it to you. I trust him to know what he can and can't teach you. He is an excellent judge of character." Daichi said sternly. Ryuu got the point, if Riddick didn't think he deserved it, he wouldn't teach him. With a sigh though, Daichi softened up, it was time, he could feel himself slipping away, he was getting tired.

"Come Ryuu, it's time for me to conclude my affairs; I would have a few words with you before I pass." Daichi said with a surprisingly amused face, the man was not afraid. Ryuu just nodded solemnly and walked up to where he was now lying down, and sat beside him.

"What would you have me do after you pass on?" Ryuu said in a depressed state.

Daichi just laughed again. "Don't be sad Ryuu, like Riddick just told me a little while ago, no one wants to die, but everyone gets too." Ryuu couldn't help but smile at that, he had to admit, that was a cool line. "Anyway, first of all, I want you to burn me and take my ashes out of this wretched place. I don't really care where you spread them, so long as it's not anywhere near this place." Daichi said with conviction. Ryuu just nodded enthusiastically, he would not fail him.

"Other than that, all I have is advice and perhaps a little wisdom if you would care to hear it." Ryuu still didn't say anything, he couldn't find the words. Instead, all he did was nod. "Very well, first of all I spoke to Riddick, and we are pretty sure of where you were actually born." This did shock Ryuu, as that was the last thing that was on his mind.

"It's actually where I lived before I was sent here, Konoha, the place I told you about. The most likely reason you were sent here was because of the Kyubi inside you. So, just to clarify, I understand if you feel the need to go there, but be careful, you may not be welcome." Ryuu just nodded again, that was nothing new. He hadn't decided whether or not he would try to find answers to questions that he had given up on a long time ago, he just concluded that he would go with the flow, and see what happened.

"If you do want to go there, ask Riddick, he will tell you how to find the village hidden in the leaves." With a deep breath, Daichi started again, this was really the most important part. "Now, my final and most important request is that you at least try to join a village, or some sort of community." Again, a look of shock was born on Ryuu's face. "I know you don't mind being alone, or rather, you enjoy your privacy, but you don't know what it's like to be truly alone, and I don't want you to. I'm not saying that you have to swear allegiance to a village to find your place, but I would like you to at least consider it, and maybe try it out. All I really care about is that you give yourself a chance to be happy."

Ryuu didn't know what to say, while Daichi was always philosophical, saying things about how that without a purpose, life is meaningless or other things like that. This was the first time he had simply come out and said it in plain language like this. Ryuu was finally able to find his voice.

"I promise that I'll try." He said weakly. Daichi just nodded, now satisfied.

"Well then, that's all I wanted to say, I'm ready now. Don't worry; I'm sure that we'll see each other again someday. Just try to make sure that that doesn't happen to soon." Daichi said with another smile. Ryuu just nodded, actually happy that Daichi looked totally at peace. He had gotten over his grief already, he would miss him, but he knew he was right, this would not be the last time they saw each other.

"Well then, I guess that this is it. I'll see you on the other side my son." Daichi said with a smile as he closed his eyes. Ryuu watched and stayed with him as he fell asleep, and then just stopped breathing. He looked like he was at peace.

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

Riddick walked in calmly, seeing Ryuu kind of wrapping up Daichi.

"So he passed, I take it he told you what he wanted you to do with his remains?" Riddick didn't so much as ask rather than state. He was after all, a man of few words, and they tended to be memorable.

Ryuu and Riddick then burned Daichi, collecting his ashes afterwards, and placing them into the closest thing that resemble an urn that they could find.

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

It had only been about an hour or so before Riddick decided that it was time to start.

"Follow me; it's time to show you how to truly become fear, the personification of your enemies' nightmares." Riddick said not even turning around as he walked away. Despite everything, Ryuu couldn't help but grin; he liked the idea of that.

They were now in a totally abandoned part of the prison, at least for the moment, and Riddick was first taking his measure on how proficient he was with all of the basic and advanced shadow techniques. Riddick was satisfied that Ryuu was ready to start learning how to understand, control, and unleash his new found abilities.

Riddick explained that the first thing he was going to teach him was the one that Ryuu had seen earlier. It was apparently the base, and basic form that was used in every one of the more advanced techniques to follow. That meant that Ryuu had to completely master it before they could move on.

It wasn't quiet as hard to teach him as he thought it would be. Ryuu didn't need to break down jutsus so much, as he just had to have the process understood. More or less, Ryuu didn't need to know the 'math' behind jutsus, so much as understand the purpose in the jutsu itself.

After Ryuu had gotten it down to a point, Riddick left to let him do his thing. After only a day, before Ryuu could really get it down, Riddick stopped him. Riddick started teaching him how to get better at Tiajutsu; he said that he could practice the jutsus on his own time.

Riddick believed that all jutsus were an ace in the hole. Thus, he used them as little as possible in actual combat. Only using them when he was fighting a truly dangerous opponent. This was one of the reasons that Riddick was so dangerous; there were only two or three people that had an idea of what he was actually capable of.

This more or less continued for a while. Ryuu would spend the day training, and Riddick would check on his progress occasionally. Ryuu didn't actually see Riddick all that often, he was off doing his own thing. But Ryuu didn't care, other than the fact that he respected Riddick too much right now to get angry at him, he also saw that even if he stayed there was nothing he could do to help anyway.

After two weeks, Ryuu had that jutsu more or less mastered. Riddick then started teaching him how to move around after he had 'melted' into the shadow. Ryuu figured that that was how Riddick was practically teleporting through the prison. He was traveling in the shadows. After about a week of doing this, he had it down, but then Riddick made it harder.

He made Ryuu create his own shadows, and only use them to move around. This was hard, very hard. Ryuu had to keep up the jutsu that created shadows, while staying 'inside' the shadow. And to top it all off, he had to move around while doing all of this. It took him almost two months to develop the chakra control necessary to keep it up for a long enough time so Riddick was satisfied. By the end of it, he could keep it up for almost twenty minutes before he had to stop. This was opposed to the five seconds that was his original limit.

Next, Riddick started teaching him how to fight while using that technique. Riddick had to help him with this one though. While Ryuu was moving around in the shadow, Riddick would throw knives at him. The first thing he had to do was train to block them with the shadow so that they couldn't hurt him. After that, he learned how to more or less teleport the knives from one shadow, to another. That meant that if an enemy shinobi threw a knife at his shadow, he could let the knife go through and fly out of another shadow. Or rather, create portals. It took another month to master this. Ryuu was surprised when he realized how fast time was going, it was the first time that he had ever had to put every fiber of his being into this.

After this, Riddick started to teach him something that was truly dangerous, something that showed the true potential of this bloodline. Riddick demonstrated it once; Ryuu was completely shocked, and actually scared. He hadn't seen too many jutsu other than his own but he was sure that there wasn't another like this in the world.

The jutsu didn't just create a shadow on the ground; actual arm like specters came out of the shadow. Unlike the shadow neck bind, or the shadow sewing jutsu were shadow spears shot out, these actually had the intelligence of the user. These specters could appear from any shadow, and much like the kunai trick, they could jump from shadow to shadow at will. Once they had you, they could impale you, bind you into place, or drag the target into the shadow itself resulting in the complete control of that being. While you couldn't simply leave the being in the shadow forever, while the user maintained control, the targeted being could be held in there until they died. The target would not be able to perform jutsu, use chakra, or breathe. All of their senses were also completely disabled.

It took Ryuu a full two months to somewhat master this jutsu, but he knew that all he had to do was get better at chakra control. After all of this, Riddick decided that he needed to actually use it to fight, combine it all together, use them at the same time, and do it as fast as possible.

Ryuu trained himself for a month and a half before he thought he was ready. As he discovered, there was a very big difference between taking your time using one technique at a time, and using them all in conjunction with each other, while moving around like he would in a real fight. Even after all of that though, the next thing he did was spar against Riddick himself. He had a lot, a lot to work on before he was even close to using them all the right way.

While Ryuu was able to use them all at the same time, he couldn't react fast enough with the jutsus themselves, or maintain the jutsus while he was in a Tiajutsu exchange with him. Riddick beat his ass every day for a full month before he finally was able to start keeping up with him. Unfortunately, he found that after he was starting to keep up with Riddick, Riddick stopped holding back as much.

But he then admitted that he was ready to learn the next advanced form.

The next one was different to say the least. Riddick explained that just like the shadow neck bind, if someone had enough chakra, they could reject the specters. However, if this didn't work, there was an alternative. It started out with simply binding your opponent in place by using the most basic move for shadow manipulators. After this, Riddick showed Ryuu a jutsu that brought the shadow itself to the target.

While the enemy was bound in place, the jutsu was that the shadow itself shot up in a pillar right under them. Thus, it created a pillar of darkness that was the shadow itself, and therefore negated the use of the shadow specters to drag opponents into the shadows. The downside to this was that it required a lot of chakra to perform. Riddick himself had the chakra level of the elite Jonin that he was, but he admitted that this jutsu still very much took it out of him. Luckily for Ryuu, his chakra reserves were ridiculously huge.

At first he thought that it was just because of the Kyubi that it was that big, but Riddick shot that down. Ryuu had to admit, he liked the fact that he would have been bad ass even if he never had the Kyubi. And on that note, he hadn't even started to learn how to control that power.

Two and a half months later, Ryuu could do any and all of these jutsus at once while fighting, and that included coming out to engage in strait Tiajutsu for a while. The only thing that was he was still having trouble with was using the jutsus independently. He knew it was possible, when he and Riddick sparred, Riddick was able to use multiple jutsus at once, and they all seemed to be acting independently.

Even with all this, Ryuu was shocked to discover that just over ten months had already gone by. Riddick had been running him so close to the edge that the days, weeks, and months had all blurred together. He realized that his birthday had already passed. It didn't really matter though; he didn't even know when his real birthday was.

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

"We're leaving in a week." Riddick stated in his usual slow dark tone. Ryuu just blinked for a moment, not understanding what he was talking about. Then it dawned on him that Riddick meant that they were going to break out of this prison, and out to the 'real' world.

"Ok, is there something that I should be doing until then?" Ryuu asked a little shakily. Suddenly the thought of leaving this place was scary, but he knew that he was going to do it anyway. Laying down and not looking at him Riddick responded.

"Go have fun. The prisoners here are still terrified of you, so go and confirm their fears. Use the skills you have learned to go hunting. This is your last opportunity to do so. Unless of course you end up getting sent back here someday." And with that, Riddick apparently went to sleep.

For a moment Ryuu just sat there, but then a wicked grin formed on his face. 'Yes, that's what I'll do. I will leave a mark so great that they will remember me forever in here.' Ryuu thought with glee. Of course, this meant that he was going to have to go a little beyond just scalping them, but he had a few ideas.

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

Ryuu just stood in the center of the courtyard, surrounded by animals, and living pieces of shit. Though he had grown, and changed some, they still knew who he was. They remembered what he had done. However, none of them were attacking yet, one thing they didn't remember was his eyes, and they definitely didn't glow before. Add that to the fact that his face was concealed by a hood, and his body hidden behind the cloak he was wearing, and he looked even more the part of the alias he had earned.

Ryuu was planning on leaving one survivor, just one. What he was doing right now was trying to figure out which one would do what he wanted after he let him go. He decided that it wouldn't matter, he would just spare the last one left alive.

One of them got brave and tried to sneak up behind him. Ryuu created a shadow underneath him, and melted into it. Nobody moved a muscle; they were all in too much shock to do anything. While they were all stunned, shadows covered over all of the exits, more or less creating shadow doorways.

The one that was already out there moved up a little bit, just to check things out. Suddenly he froze, and then a pillar of shadow mass covered him. After a few moments, the pillar retreated into the ground leaving behind a completely skinned, screaming man.

Everyone of them panicked. A few of them almost ran right into the shadow mass that was covering the door ways, but before anything else was done, Ryuu's shadow specters suddenly erupted from the doorways. Impaling one, and crushing the heads of two others. The rest of the convicts panicked and started running around aimlessly.

All this time, Ryuu remained inside the shadow that never moved from the middle of the room. As one of the men ran by, a shadow specter shot out of his shadow, and grabbed him. Ryuu held the screaming man up in the air long enough for all of them to see, and then he pulled the man into his shadow. Again, none of them moved.

Ryuu transported the man to a shadow on the ceiling, too high for any of them to see, and used his shadow specters to dangle him. Nobody could see him; they could still hear where the screams were coming from. Ryuu used the shadow specters to rip the man apart, and spill all of his insides out, dropping them back down to the floor. The cons watched as the man who had apparently been pulled into the ground, was dropped in wet gory pieces from the ceiling. Then they all truly gave into panic.

There was no point in scaring them anymore, they were so out of their minds that he doubted that any of them would remember anything from that point on. So, he just had fun killing them, brutally. He made it a point to make it as messy as possible. And when all of it was over, and there was only one sniveling animal curled into a corner, he retreated like he was never there.


	3. Chapter 3

**The Demon of Butcher Bay Ch.3**

Ryuu sighed in relief at the comfortable feeling of the removal of the weights that had been plaguing him for almost a year. With how hard Riddick had been pushing him, he had completely forgotten about them. As surprising as it was, he didn't realize how much they had been holding him back.

Riddick was by no means a seal master, but he was proficient with them. He had taught him how to make explosive notes, and seal things in scrolls and such. Though that was pretty much the extent of Ryuu's abilities with seals, it was more than enough for now. The only problem was, was that they had precious few kunai to attach them too.

While Riddick had a set of wicked looking blades that he had called Ulaks, they did have other regular combat knives. They weren't as good with throwing as kunai, but Riddick said that this was good, that it would improve his accuracy even more than normal. However, with all of this, Ryuu now had his very own pair of Ulak blades. Riddick had called them his unofficial graduation present for finally becoming proficient enough to escape this place. Where Riddick had obtained them, Ryuu could only guess.

**Flashback:**

"It's almost time to leave." Riddick said casually as he ate his meat in a relaxed pose. They were eating lunch. While Ryuu was sweating from the light workout, Riddick wasn't even breathing hard.

There latest sessions had been entirely focused on mastering the unique improvised strategy that was involved with the Ulak blades.

Like Riddick had told him, Ryuu's advancement as far as his jutsus went was entirely up to him. Riddick demonstrated them, answered questions, and sparred with him on occasion, but that was as far as it went. Riddick only regularly instructed him in Tiajutsu and such, he didn't focus too much on anything else. Ryuu wasn't even sure exactly how many other jutsu Riddick knew.

Riddick taught him that although shinobi only had one, two, or at most three affinities with chakra nature, they could perform jutsu with all of the elements that were natural. The only drawback being that the other elements were harder to learn, consumed more chakra than they otherwise would, as well as it being nearly impossible to perform the highest levels of the other element jutsus.

So with that in mind, Riddick taught Ryuu a few fire, earth, and lightning jutsus. However, Riddick was fairly certain that Ryuu's true affinity was towards wind chakra, this was good news for Ryuu. It was perfect for him; the practically invisible wind blades were awesome. Ryuu made use of them fully in the last week to randomly cut people in half as they were walking around the various yards. Then, he simply left, leaving the rest of the nearby cons terrified, as there was only one who hunted them in the darkness.

**End flashback:**

"They're coming." Riddick said simply as they were making the final preparations to leave. Ryuu just looked at him in curiosity.

"What are you talking about?" Ryuu asked, his curiosity evident in his voice.

"Your recent exploits have forced the warden's hand. He has hired several A class Jonin to hunt you down. They will be down here in anywhere from ten to thirty minutes Riddick explained perfectly at ease. Meanwhile, Ryuu paled.

"What? You knew that this could happen?" Ryuu half yelled in confusion.

"No, I was expecting and counting on it happening. With so many of the most powerful guards and mercs searching the lower levels for you, it will leave the upper levels where you almost never hunted relatively clear, making our escape that much easier." Riddick explained as he finished sealing the last of their supplies and such. Ryuu just shook his head at Riddick's perception. Leave it to him to predict the warden's actions and actually exploit him drawing attention to them. With a sudden widening of his eyes Ryuu realized that that was what Riddick had been planning from the beginning, it was the whole reason that he had encouraged Ryuu to terrorize the local populace.

A sudden image of him ripping the warden's spine out flashed through his head, Ryuu just shook it off. While he wouldn't be opposed to actually doing that to the warden, he knew that he couldn't ever let the images be his sole motivation for hurting people. The images, or 'the whispers' were the side effect of signing the contract. While they weren't actually whispers, they ended up trying to influence him the same way, so that's what they called it as they couldn't come up with a better name.

Both Daichi and Riddick had made it a point to drive the point home that he could never give into those impulses. While the people in here certainly earned whatever they got, he still couldn't give in. the more he did what the whispers told him too, the harder it would be to ignore them when he was around people that didn't deserve to be hurt. Eventually he would go psychotic and turn into just another schizophrenic psycho.

Riddick taught him through certain mental exercises how to strengthen his mind so he wouldn't have to rely solely on will power. As it turned out, he had been doing one of them his whole life, playing strategy games with Daichi.

**XXXXXXXXXXXXX**

Ryuu was almost shaking with some unknown emotion. It had finally started, they were being hunted, and they were using the distraction to get out. They had avoided no less than three elite Jonin and twenty elite Chunin as they made their way up through the underground prison. Ryuu knew by now that elite Jonin like Riddick were few in number, the warden must be spending a small fortune trying to hunt him down. Ryuu couldn't help but take it as a compliment.

They were approaching the final level; things were starting to get brighter, even though Riddick had told him that it should be night of the new moon, meaning that there shouldn't be one out. Ryuu had learned about the moon, but all he had ever seen of it was pictures that Daichi had drawn him. All the same, he was excited to finally see it in a day or two.

'_Almost there.'_ Riddick signed to him. They were outside now, and it was a bit of a shock to Ryuu. He didn't know it, but the landscape was still considered ugly, but Ryuu didn't know any better. To him it looked alien, and strangely beautiful. He was in for a big surprise when he finally did get a few miles outside the prison walls; so far all he had seen was a single tree and dryish shrubs.

**XXXXXXXXXXXXX**

They were at the last gate; past it was the massive wall that separated this hell from the rest of the world. They had to be careful though; there was nobody to blend in with here. The entire prison population was condemned to spend the rest of their lives without seeing daylight, they couldn't be seen right now.

Even though there were no prisoners, there were still plenty of guards around. Even though the prison was on alert right now due to Ryuu's exploits, they were relaxed. None of them had ever seen a prisoner up here unless they were being brought in, so they were relaxed, and not as alert as they should have been.

They had to move fast though, Ryuu was getting tired. After a year of training, Ryuu was able to move around in his own shadow for about twenty-five minutes. As they were moving in existing shadows, he probably had about fifty until he had to take a break. Riddick wasn't tired at all though. With this in mind though, they moved as fast as they were able. They had been traveling for two days before they got to the surface, Riddick apparently having scouted the rout a long time ago so he already had safe houses ready.

Almost forty minutes into it, they were almost to the outer wall. They didn't kill any guards, not one. Killing anyone ran the risk of the bodies being found, and therefore the guards knowing someone was around. They made good time, going through cracks to go through walls, and exploiting every little advantage that could be had. Almost there.

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

'Finally,' Ryuu thought to himself, they had made it to the top of the wall. It was massive, towering at least seventy stories above the waste land below. It was a marvel of human ingenuity; Ryuu couldn't help but admire the men and woman who had made this prison.

After a short break, Ryuu and Riddick nodded to each other, he was ready. He had been training and preparing for this moment his entire life, this was his destiny, and he was ready for it. He and Riddick swan dived off of the wall at the same time, with Riddick pulling ahead a little due to his weight. The fall seemed to go on, and on, and on.

They were almost at the bottom, Ryuu could see it clearly. Just as he was about to hit the ground, he made the hand seal so that as he hit the ground, he melted into a shadow. Without missing a beat, both he and Riddick's took off to put as much distance as they could between them and the prison.

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

It had been almost two days since they escaped, they were still hiding during the day. Even though it they hid under ground during the day, it was still so much brighter during the day than anything that Ryuu had ever seen. Riddick said that soon the wasteland that surrounded the prison would end, and they would be in some light wooded areas, and then after a day or two, as they would be able to travel during the day as well, they could start the final stages of his training. Or at least the final stages of his training with Riddick.

Both Daichi and Riddick had explained that Ryuu would only 'need' his guidance for so long, that Riddick would only stay until he no longer needed him. After a little while, he would be able to start training himself, though his progress would be slower. That was fine though, Ryuu didn't mind. Riddick had already given him almost a year of his life, a year, just so he could perform a favor for a friend. Ryuu would be eternally grateful for that.

It was just as Riddick said it would be, they were in the woods now. Ryuu was astounded at the beauty of it all. He now understood, at least for some people, why some were willing to give their lives to protect their homes. Ryuu would do the same if he ever had a home like this to call his own.

In addition to all of the trees, there were also the sounds of all of the animals around. So many noises. From the simple swaying of trees in the wind, to his most favorite sound, the sound of wolves howling to each other. It was all so, so, awesome to him. Not to mention the light, it was so bright. Even the moon was blinding at first.

As they got to the actual forest, where it was much thicker, Riddick started instructing him again. Riddick taught him the basics from everything from hunting, to learning to use his chakra to dull the light let in by his eyes. He didn't have any sunglasses or goggles of his own yet, but he would later on. Also, using all of his shadow techniques in daylight was much harder. Riddick said that it wasn't actually any harder than making his own shadows in the dark; it was just a psychological block because they weren't as effective in the day light.

After Ryuu got the basics down for something, they moved on to the next subject. Riddick only taught him the basics, every else was up to him to figure out. All the same, Ryuu was fine with this. In a way it was actually more exciting this way, made it all seem more of an adventure.

**XXXXXXXXXXXXX**

"Are you in anyway not ready for this?" Riddick asked Ryuu in his deep controlled voice. For a moment, Ryuu couldn't help but admire the man. He never lost his cool. Not to mention that he never spoke unless he really had something to say, it was just his way, it never bothered Ryuu.

It was exactly one year since Ryuu had signed the contract with the hellhounds. It was time to summon the lord of those magnificent creatures. Ryuu wasn't afraid to admit he was nervous, not afraid per say, but definitely nervous.

"Does it matter?" Ryuu responded in an equally controlled tone. Riddick just nodded and moved to the side of the clearing and jumped high into a tree. It was the middle of the night on a full moon. Riddick said the boss would be ok if it was in the daytime, but it would show his respect if it was at night.

Ryuu took a deep breath and a final look at the moon he bit his thumb, and then started going through the hand seals. At the very end he pored as much chakra into it as he dared, and slammed his hand to on the ground. A massive cloud of smoke poofed into existence, and Ryuu was now kneeling on the head of a hellhound that was probably forty-five stories tall.

"So it is time at last." Said the massive creature in a deep almost sinister tone. After that, the hellhound lowered his head to allow Ryuu to jump off. As Ryuu looked up, he noticed that it looked almost exactly like the one that he summoned a year ago. They had no need of armor because of the scales on their bodies, and their razor sharp claws were their weapons.

Ryuu watched as the summon looked over and nodded at Riddick who nodded in return. After that, the boss summon looked back to Ryuu. Ryuu kneeled before it, truly humbled.

"So you are Daichi's pupil, and legacy." The summon said with a tone that Ryuu couldn't identify.

"Yes my lord, I looked to him as if he was my own father." Ryuu said with honesty.

"I see, would you give me your name?" the summon asked even though he already knew it because of the contract. Riddick had told him that he would be asked anyway though, it was a matter of tradition, and a show of respect.

"I am Ryuu, adopted son of Daichi Nara. My parents whom abandoned me gave me the name Naruto Uzumaki." Ryuu answered not able to hide the small amount of bitterness in his voice.

"Very well Ryuu Nara. I will address you by that name unless you decide that you will accept your true name." the summon replied in a sincere tone.

"Thank you my lord." Ryuu answered in sincere gratitude.

"Look into my eyes." The great beast commanded, sounding every bit the lord that it was. Ryuu instantly obeyed.

It was only a few seconds later that Ryuu seemed to be put into a trance. Somehow, the great lord was almost entering his mind, seeming to look into his very soul. It was an almost pleasant experience. For the first time, Ryuu felt content. This master lord summon knew who he truly was, better than he himself did. There was no hiding from it, and it felt liberating to know that there were no secrets to be hidden anymore, no matter the demons reaction to him.

After some time, Ryuu came out of his trance like state to find that he was staring at the nighttime sky filled with stars. He looked around to find the master summon talking to Riddick; though they stopped the moment they sensed he was conscious again. With a rumble the beast made eye contact with him again.

"Ryuu Nara, I have looked into your soul, and I am satisfied. You are worthy of my clans loyalty. I am Shikyo, lord of all hellhounds." The demon answered with an obvious tone of respect.

Ryuu just blinked a bit. "That's it? You've accepted me, just like that." Ryuu asked in amazement. Shikyo appeared to raise an eyebrow.

"You'd rather me attack and try and eat you." Ryuu paled.

"N-no my lord Shikyo." The summon rumbled in laughter. Ryuu also caught the incredibly rare sight of Riddick smirking.

"I have peered into your soul, I know the real you. There is no other test that could do more to reveal your true character." Shikyo exclaimed patiently. Ryuu just nodded in understanding. "Well if that's all, I will be leaving now. Do not hesitate to call upon our services if ever you find yourself in jeopardy. On that note, there are a few fledglings that would be most grateful if you summoned them for no other reason than to 'play'." The boss summon added dryly. Ryuu couldn't help but smile at the idea of summoning a hellhound for no other reason than to help him train, or just to screw around.

And with that, Shikyo dispelled himself.

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX **

Riddick had been gone for a week; his departure was surprisingly not awkward at all. Just like with Daichi, Ryuu knew it was coming. Riddick stayed a day or two after the summoning to teach him a little more about summoning, and then he simply wished Ryuu good luck, and left.

Ryuu smiled at the memory, he was sure that one day he would meet Riddick again no matter what. So for now, he was just focusing on trying to find civilization. He had forgotten to ask Riddick which way to head to find a village, or any community for that matter. For all Ryuu knew, he was heading to a part of the earth that was completely uninhabited. Ryuu just laughed at all of it, this was how Riddick joked anyway.

So with those thoughts, Ryuu simply followed his gut and headed in the direction that he thought other people were. During his days, he trained as much as he wanted to. It was a lot of fun practicing and perfecting his more powerful and destructive jutsus without worry, or at least without any thing that he knew of.

On the days where he was sore, he just traveled, just taking in the miracles of nature. Even after being out side for over a month, he still was taken aback every time he saw a tree, or heard a wild animal.

Even though he had Daichi to watch over him, it was inevitable that he would be influenced by the monsters that he grew up around. The only reason that he didn't end up like them was because he loved Daichi, that was it. Even still, he was so tired of being pissed off all of the time, hate is like a virus. Hate consumes you, and you can't help but hate the hate that's consuming and poisoning your mind. So you take it out on other people, you make them feel your pain and hate, and in turn they do the same to you.

But it was so peaceful out here, no worries, no hate, at least not right now. He knew that no matter what, he would never take this freedom for granted, not ever. He would fight to stay out of prison, but not at the guarantied cost of his life. He was a survivor. He escaped once, he could do it again, he would find a way. And if there wasn't a way, he would make one.

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX One year later:**

"Mother fucker." Ryuu cursed, he was in a position where he could either obey his conscience, go back to prison, or worse. He was currently in a border crossing between two nations too small to bother to know the names of; he had traveled over a thousand miles, and seen many things since he escaped. He was now fifteen, and much wiser, as well as much more powerful.

Even through all of this though, he had been hunted for the last five months. Five months ago, he had stumbled on a scene that he couldn't ignore, and because of it, he got a bounty on his head that was only growing.

**Flashback:**

'This one is much bigger.' Ryuu thought to himself as he looked around. It was the first ninja village he had visited that was actually one of the five main nations, Iwa.

While it was a big village, and interesting enough, Ryuu still didn't like it. He didn't know why, but he still didn't like it, he was going to follow his gut and leave when he ran into a little bit of a problem. He came across a woman being beaten, and more than likely end up being raped.

Ryuu was walking towards the gates of this village, he was leaving. While he was ok with the village itself and the people, he didn't like the crowds, the population was huge. Was leaving in plain sight in the middle of the day, he had nothing to hide. Though it may have looked that way. He did make a little bit of an imposing figure.

He was still a kid, barely fifteen, but you could tell that he was dangerous. He had bought a new updated version of the armor he wore in prison. A one piece light piece that protected his back, sides, front, and his shoulders. Because it was light, it was flexible, it suited him. He wore sunglasses to cover his eyes, though they did fit very close to his face, completely sealing off his eyes from the daylight.

He wore black bracers, and greaves, and tactical pants as well. And to top it all off, he wore a pitch black cloak. The cloak had a hood in which the fabric was much stiffer so it retained a constant shape. In addition to this, he could fold it into a high collar as well. It was not a one piece though. It had several buckles on the chest, following that it opened up and hung to his shins. If he wanted though, there were buckles on the inside that could keep it closed if he wanted to stay warm as it was a 'heavy' cloak and could keep him warm in a cold climate.

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

"PLEASE, TAKE WHAT YOU WANT, I WONT REPORT THIS!" a woman's voice rang out in a strangled wail right before an audible smack was heard.

"Shut up bitch! This is your fault anyway!" a cruel voice rang out with the slur of booze in his voice.

"Ya, you….um." apparently not finding a suitable excuse the second voice hit her again.

It took Ryuu about two seconds to decide what to do. Riddick probably wouldn't have done anything, unless children were involved, but he wasn't Riddick. No, he was his own person. And this person would not sit ideally by and let this woman be raped. For that was what was inevitably going to happen.

It was very simple actually, even though they were Chunin. Ryuu was on the rooftop above them while they were beating the poor woman. They were so drunk that Ryuu didn't even bother to try to be stealthy. He simply stepped off of the edge and buried both of the blades in their skulls.

Though the woman was grateful, he had to leave. They were shinobi after all, and leaf shinobi in Iwa could mean only one thing, they were ambassadors. They would find this woman, they would make her talk, and they would know his description. Ryuu didn't know a whole lot, but it was obvious what would happen if the deaths of ambassadors to a major nation were killed, and then the murders were not solved. Given the two nations history, it would certainly lead to war. Unless Iwa wanted a war, which was unlikely, they would spare no resource; share all information to solve this case, and otherwise do just about anything to convince Konoha that they weren't trying to pick a fight.

Ryuu had about twenty-four to thirty-six hours before he was one of the most wanted men in the world. He was fucked, at best; he was going back to Butcher Bay. At worst, it was a fate worse than death.

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX End flashback:**

He stared at the dead child, no older than ten. And then looked to the six more that were being held in a way that promised sudden death if he made any move. The mercenary turned bounty hunter known only by the alias 'Tombs' looked at him with a smirk of victory.

Ryuu both despised, and respected Tombs. Tombs was a mid class Jonin, who never worked with people stronger than him. He had been tracking, and hunting Ryuu for months. Tombs had a lot of connections, while not an incredibly intelligent man, he knew his trade. The second time Ryuu and Tombs fought, along with his old crew, Tombs revealed that he knew Ryuu was the demon of Butcher Bay. While he didn't know Ryuu's name, he was sure it was him.

It really wasn't all that hard to figure out, not with the amount of activity in the mercenary world a year and a half earlier. Butcher Bay had sent out a contract for only veteran elite shinobi for hire, with the addition that they would hire as many that showed up, this was big news in the trade. It became even bigger news when the 'Demon' was never found. They knew the contract was valid, no one put out a contract with five figures each without being one hundred percent sure that it was valid.

When the 'demon' was not found, it didn't take long for them to put together the pieces. After a few days, the company that ran the prison decided on a course of action. While they would put out a bounty on the Demon, it would not be ridiculously huge. While the demon had humiliated them, it was no longer their problem. Add to the fact that no one had any leads to the identity of the demon, it was settled that a bounty of a hundred thousand dollars was sufficient.

Tombs had tricked Ryuu, until Ryuu was actually confronted Tombs had just asked on instinct. If Ryuu had tried to deny it, if he had laughed, Tombs would have dropped all assumptions. But Ryuu didn't deny it, he had said nothing. That was all Tombs needed to know. While Tombs had threatened to reveal Ryuu's existence to the world, Ryuu knew he wouldn't, he was too big of a score as it was. Ryuu was worth so much that one hint that this guy knew where he might be and Tombs himself would be in danger.

Even still, Ryuu was in too much of a hurry at the time finish off Tombs, he had killed his crew, but Ryuu knew Tombs was still alive. That was two months ago, and Ryuu hadn't stopped moving since. Ryuu had no idea how Tombs was tracking him. Ryuu had checked himself countless times for any tracking device, he had randomized his patterns, both avoiding people, and then trying to hide in plain sight, and it didn't work. It should have been impossible for Tombs to track him, but he was, and he did.

Tombs had finally caught up to him, and this time, he wasn't taking any chances. Ryuu had been careful to only reveal basic jutsus that were unremarkable, relying on his superior Tiajutsu skills, but Tombs knew he was holding back somehow. It was just pure instinct on his part, that was all it was.

Ryuu looked again at the petrified, pleading looks of the street rat children that were being threatened to be executed if he didn't surrender himself. He was good, but he wouldn't be able to save all of them

"Five seconds." Tombs barked. Ryuu only needed two to make his decision.

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

Riddick had told him of this seal, used to transport prisoners. It was a seal that put the prisoner in a sort of suspended animation. A combination of seal work, and a powerful Genjutsu. They were in a sort of trance, body slowed down, mind slowed down. It was said that the brain shut down in it, all but the primitive side, the animal side.

'No wonder I'm still awake.' Ryuu thought to himself. Though he admitted that it was probably due to the Kyubi slowly fusing with him.

It unnerved and scared the rouge ninja to no end that Ryuu wouldn't go completely to sleep, so they kept hostages just in case. Ryuu knew that with time, he could have broken out, freed himself. But Tombs took no chances, making sure that the seals stayed intact, and kept a child hostage at all times. Ryuu longed for the day he could peel Tombs's face off his skull.

Ryuu wasn't sure where they were headed, Konoha, or Butcher Bay. But it really was a no contest. Ryuu had no idea what his bounty was, he was sure that it was astronomical by now. Eventually Tombs revealed that he was planning to tell the Hokage of his identity when he picked up payment, in hopes of collecting that bounty as well.

Finally, Ryuu was relieved completely of his seals, he was awake, aware. While he was still weaker than he was before, the Kyubi had made sure to keep his body from completely atrophying.

He looked up to see Tombs walking up to the gate guard to inform him the prisoner transfer. Expectedly, the guards were shocked. They just stared at him for a few moments. It wasn't everyday that you got to even see a person that was responsible for not only almost sparking a very big war, but that wasn't what was so significant about it. No one had ever almost gotten away with it. One way or another, they died within twenty-four hours, he had lasted almost seven months. Ryuu was going to be recorded among the most infamous men in history.

Eventually, they let them in. Ryuu was in a cage, a kind of open carriage with bars actually, they didn't take him out, not yet anyway. They slowly rolled him forward into the village, where a very big greeting party was waiting for him. Ryuu smirked; this was going to be interesting.

_**Yes, this story will go on. Yes it will start to get better from now on as I will be able to write in the present tense and not simply 'speed' write because I'm lazy at the moment. Later on ill do flashbacks to explain some the sources and friends he has outside of Konoha, but not for a while.**_

_**Oh ya, Ryuu's eyes are not the sharingan. While he will eventually gain the ability mention, which I will explain when it comes up, it will not be just a replica of the sharingan. No, almost all of Ryuu's shined eyes abilities are pretty strait forward. **_

_**I didn't much like the way this chapter came out, but please have faith in me! I will not fail you in the next one, Believe it!**_


	4. Chapter 4

The Demon of Butcher Bay Ch4:

Though the seals had been taken off, Ryuu was still chained up inside the cage on wheels that he was in. It was understandable that just about every elite Jonin in the village was there to greet him. In addition, there were teams of multiple ANBU guards for the Hokage. To save face, they needed to treat this like the serious situation that it was. Because of him, they almost had to go to war, a real war. They needed to show everyone that this would not go unpunished, and that they were very interested in making an example of him. Not only that, but it also showed that the Leaf village was actually trying to resolve this.

If word got out that the man in question had been caught, even if he wasn't really the right person, and it was discovered that they were trying to be discreet about it, that would also be very bad. If that were to happen, other villages would take it as a sign that the Leaf had no intention in letting tensions run down. In other words, it would look like Leaf wanted a war.

'All for me.' Ryuu thought with amusement. Ryuu did not acknowledge any of them though. In fact, he just stayed limp, and kept his eyes closed, he wanted to look pathetic, wanted them to underestimate him. With him being kind of stretched out, it looked right. Ryuu's arms were chained to an opposite side of his cage. Making it look like he had been crucified. It appeared to be working; at least, that was what he could sense from the feel of the place. They were disappointed that he wasn't more, 'intimidating'. Probably would have made a better example if he was.

After he had been wheeled in for a while, suddenly it all stopped, and all was quiet. Ryuu assumed that he was in the middle of some courtyard for all to see. Suddenly there was a very loud bark of laughter, and Ryuu inwardly smirked.

"HA! This is it? This is the guy we've been afraid of? Hokage sama, you'd better make sure this is the right guy." A cocky voice somewhere in front of his called out. Ryuu inwardly smirked again.

Shikamaru was horrified; he couldn't believe what an idiot Kiba was. That was a very stupid thing to do. Kiba was just asking for this guy to kill him when he escaped. He was sure that if they didn't execute him now, he would escape, at least his cell. There was no way he could escape the village though, the Hokage himself would probably confront him.

However, that didn't mean that he couldn't take some people with him. While he never strutted about it and acted arrogant, Shikamaru knew he was a genius. He didn't even need his intelligence to 'feel' how dangerous this guy was. While he admitted that he was indeed surprised that this guy was a kid, no older than they were by his estimates. He still killed two Chunin at once, escaped a major ninja village undetected, and evaded all pursuits and stayed off the radar for at least five or six months. That was an incredibly impressive résumé, especially since he had been pursued by just about every ninja not on a mission in the world. He himself had been deployed to track him down.

No, this guy was very dangerous, very. The fact that he was playing dumb and pathetic meant two things. He was smart, and still had his wits about him, that was also a dangerous combination. Not to mention the fact that the bounty hunters that had brought him in were now wide eyed and sweating bullets. Even after all of this, most of it being painfully obvious, Kiba had just insulted him, and made an enemy of this man, unless Kiba did something, he was probably going to die. But it wouldn't stop there; there would be collateral damage as well. Anyone that got in his way, that could be anyone from innocent civilians, family, to his teammates.

On top of all of this, the tension in the air had dropped noticeably, this guys plan was working. He was getting them off guard, making them all underestimate him. This could go on to form a chain reaction, the only result of which was loss of life, and he needed to remind everyone of who they were dealing with.

"Shut up you moron!" Shikamaru all but screamed at him, but with venom in his voice as well as it being laced with killing intent. Needless to say, everyone was shocked, some wide eyed as he usually did almost anything to prevent attracting attention to himself. The only ones that didn't seem shocked, and actually happy that he was doing what he was, were the Hokage, and all of the Jonin present. They at least, were not fooled by this kid's performance.

Shikamaru could tell that Kiba was about to yell back, telling him off. And tell everyone that this guy was a loser, and weak. He needed to be put in his place, and now.

"Are you trying to get people killed? How can you not see that this guy is acting this way to get us all to relax? You are falling right into his trap dumbass. While he may just be a kid like us, he has managed to evade hundreds, if not thousands of shinobi for months, who knows how many he had to kill to keep it up that long. He may not be one yet, but I have no doubt that he will probably be one of the most lethal men in the world someday, at the very least, he could easily kill you.

"And you just insulted this person." Kiba, along with everyone else was shocked, and horrified as well. Shikamaru sighed; he had just saved a lot of people.

"Well said Chunin Shikamaru, you are correct in your analysis." The aged Hokage said loud enough for everyone to hear. This just further scared people, 'good' Shikamaru thought. Throughout all of this though, the mystery kid never spoke or moved, just looked like a beaten up doll that had lost hope. Dangerous indeed.

To make things worse, or better, Tombs took this moment to speak up. Hoping to up his reward, he chose to announce his belief of Ryuu's identity. So with that, he stepped forward. Speaking loudly enough for all to hear, he spoke out in a grave tone, hoping to add a dramatic setting.

"How right you are, in fact, I think he is even more dangerous that you give him credit." There were a few gasps from the civilians present, namely the counsel.

"While I have no concrete evidence to prove it, I believe this is 'the' Demon of Butcher Bay. The second person in history to escape the most notorious prison in the world." Tombs spoke out even louder.

To all ninja present, it was obvious what he was doing, he practically reeked of greed. Even still, a few more gasps were heard, this was news. Even if Tombs was playing it up, the possibility that he was who Tombs claimed he was just made him all the more dangerous. While they had never heard of 'The' Demon of Butcher Bay, just the idea that someone could escape that place was terrifying. It was utterly silent, even the animals were quiet. Tombs couldn't suppress a smirk, which was what he wanted.

The Hokage, along with Kakashi and several other elite Jonin were frowning, something was familiar about this kid, and they just couldn't place it. With a glance around he noticed that even Danzo was curious, Hiashi Hyuga was even showing emotion for once. He couldn't get a good look at this kids face though, he still had his head bowed showing short blond hair, and he needed to change that.

With a signal for his ANBU to get ready in case the kid tried to fight back, he readied the seals that he himself would place on the teen, they were ready.

"Bounty hunter, release him so we may complete the exchange." The Hokage said in a strong and firm tone, radiating authority. His ninja were prepared for this; they knew the plan and the details of the exchange. However, the bounty hunters weren't.

"Let him out!" one of them yelled, "Are you crazy?" a fair number of his own men seemed to agree with him.

"I don't know about this new crew you've got Tombs, their skittish." The 'Demon' saying something for the first time, though still not looking up. "Probably shouldn't tell them what happened to the last crew." Ryuu finished with obvious amusement in his tone. Why not talk? His original plan was ruined now anyway.

This new statement worked though, his crew was sweating so bad that their clothes were being soaked. The stench of fear saturated the air, and not just from the bounty hunters either. There were a lot of people there, civilians and ninja alike, though there more of the former. The Jonin could kill Ryuu, they knew it. Even though Ryuu had abilities that they didn't know about, Ryuu was still a kid. They knew it, but it still didn't help all that much.

Even though there was no way in hell he could harm any of them, they were all still unnerved. That in itself was unnerving, while it slightly pissed them off; he was still scaring them anyway. His voice was deep, sinister, a voice that no kid should ever posses. Even if he was faking it, he shouldn't know it. They knew the Nara kid was right, one day; this kid was going to be one of the most lethal men in the world. They couldn't let him live, it was just too dangerous.

After a moment of hesitation, Tombs signaled to his men to do it. They didn't do it at first; they were even more scared than before. But they did it anyway. Even the Hokage was a little unnerved by how calm Ryuu was, there were dozens of shinobi here ready to kill him a second. The kid wasn't fazed in the least; Ryuu didn't even have to fake that.

Ryuu still kept his head down as they pulled him out, even when he was out in the open with no restraints. As the Hokage started forward with no less than four ANBU units as an escort, Ryuu finally made eye contact with him. Sarutobi Hiruzen froze. It wasn't his eyes, no, it was his whole face. Very few people had truly known the Yondaime, not many spent enough time with him to memorize his face as family did. This was his son, no doubt about it. Everything from the blond hair, the cheek bones, and the especially the whisker birth marks that identified him as the jinchuuriki.

The Hokage didn't even bother to hide his shock, if he knew, then just about every elite Jonin, ANBU captain, council member, and Danzo knew. All of this was only confirmed as he turned around and saw Kakashi's eye as wide as it possibly could be. He knew what he was thinking, 'How is this possible?'

Ryuu narrowed his eyes in distrust and something else he couldn't identify. Of all the reactions he thought of, this type of apparent shock was not one of them. He had no idea what was going on, but apparently, there was more going on than he was aware of. That was bad, he didn't know what was going on, but the best thing he could do right now was to get them to get him out of the spotlight for the moment. He knew that this meant that it would speed up his presence in the interrogation room, but he didn't care.

He dint know why, but he was more uncomfortable right now than he had ever been in his life. Something was very wrong, and he didn't know what it was. And as such, he subconsciously reacted the only way that he knew how, cold fury. While he wasn't exactly giving off killing intent, it was another type of it. The kind that you could feel in the back of your head when you were creeped out by someone for no particular reason. Only right now it was evident that he was angry, without giving any signs of it. That he was in complete control of all his hate, that he had harnessed it, and could unleash it on them if he wanted to. It scared them all.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Hinata Hyuga was to say the least, a somewhat disturbed girl. Her father was a verbally abusive man, and that tends to truly fuck children up. There was not one conversation between them that Hiashi hadn't put her down. Or in other words, every time they 'talked', all he did was tell her what a worthless piece of shit she was.

At first, when a child is treated like this, they withdraw and become very shy. Hardly ever talking at all, never making eye contact or any other kind of contact for that matter. Talking meant pain, making eye contact meant pain, being touched meant pain. Never once in her memory was she touched and it didn't hurt.

She was very withdrawn until the age of thirteen. At this point, a child is aware enough to make a decision. A decision to both give into despair and lose the will to live. Or, she could turn to her anger, her hate, and more or less become it. By the age of twelve, she had completely shut down, becoming a shell, empty. Only occasionally feeling hate or disgust. The only other times she ever felt anything was when she got hit; it felt good because she got to feel something.

At thirteen when she gave in to hate, she became defiant. She no longer cared about anybody's opinion of her, nobody. He cut her hair to a style of her choosing even though nobody else really liked it. While she never made eye contact with her father, she openly radiated her hate for him without talking. He struck her; he yelled at her, he locked her away. She didn't care, she took it, and remained defiant. The part of her that her father was trying to hurt no longer existed. It was buried deep inside her.

She took out her rage in training, let it out there. She picked fights, and hurt people badly. She was no longer afraid of pain, she welcomed it. She was going to make the world feel her pain, just because she had no other purpose.

However, Hinata was not an angry person in nature. She would have been kind and caring, but that part of her was all but dead. Still, it takes so much effort to stay that angry. She didn't even realize it until a few weeks ago when she was sleeping more and more tired and she didn't know why. One day she figured it out, she was slowly wasting away.

She was tired. Tired of being pissed off all of the time, it ate away at her soul without her realizing it. Still, she couldn't get herself to care. She had nothing to lose, she could care less about anything, and she didn't have anything to live for.

And so, while she didn't actively try to stay as angry, she stayed that way. She didn't know any other way to live.

But today she actually felt something for the first time since she was young. At first she was simply curious when she got word that she was to immediately report to the front gates of the village. The man that had almost started a war had been captured, and had been brought here alive. She was slightly excited to see him.

However, she was shocked to discover that he was a boy no older than her. At first she was disappointed, he looked pathetic. Then her teammate Kiba had spoken out, and Shikamaru had scolded him in turn. After that, things changed.

After the boy started talking, the aura he gave off was completely different. This meant a couple of things, one of them being that he had a monstrous amount of self control. This was solidified after he started giving off a feeling of controlled fury. A feeling that was so familiar to her, and yet this was so much more potent. Not only was his much more powerful, but he had completely mastered it, and controlled it.

No one was moving, not doing anything. The blond boy with the most amazing eyes she had ever seen was just standing there in silent defiance. Apparently he was not at all intimidated by any of this.

She examined him further, memorized the sight of him in his combat boots, dark tactical pants, and black tank top. She examined his very well defined muscles in his arms. She licked her lips, and immediately stopped and blushed. She was not embarrassed about the other people near her; no she was embarrassed about herself. She may be a cold, angry girl, but she was still a teenager.

It was so very quiet, and the feeling radiating off of Naruto wasn't helping anything at all. The bounty hunters were looking like they were about to panic, that was bad. If they did, Sarutobi was sure Naruto would kill them, and then he would in turn most likely be killed by his ANBU. He needed to solve this, and now.

With a deep sigh, the Hokage steeled himself, stepped forward, and put the seals on the boy who didn't put up any form of a fight. It was a smart move on his part, this was happening whether he wanted it to or not, he might as well save strength, and spare himself from injury.

After Naruto passed out, an effect of the seals, he spoke out that everyone was to resume their regular duties. He then allowed his ANBU to secure Naruto, and take him away. For a minute, no one moved, still in shock. This was about the last thing they had expected to happen.

Then slowly, everyone left in silence, choosing for the moment to pretend that none of it had ever happened. It was too disturbing to think about, especially for the few that knew the true identity of the boy. Whatever happened, it couldn't possibly be good for them. Knowing their Hokage, he would simply refuse to kill the boy. And if he did not already know what the village had done to him, he would find out soon enough. That could only mean bad things for everyone, no matter what followed. Many a shinobi chose to try and wash the memory away in liquor that night.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Sarutobi had been very curt with the bounty hunters. He would honor the contract, but not until he got every single piece of Intel they possessed about Naruto, or rather, Ryuu. It wasn't all that much of a surprise to find out that he had given himself a different name, or rather whoever had kept him alive.

The bounty hunters hurried to comply, they wanted out of here, and to get as far away from Ryuu as they possibly could. That was fine with him.

While the entire counsel had wanted to have an immediate session, Sarutobi did not call one. He would not go into another council meeting concerning Naruto without knowing everything. Last time it had happened, Naruto was simply gone.

Fifteen years ago, the Kyubi attacked and the greatest ninja to ever come out of Konoha sacrificed himself to stop it. Sarutobi was the main reason as to why the Kyubi was stalled so long. Though even he couldn't do it alone, hundreds had died that night. After the battle, Sarutobi was so exhausted that he was asleep in a sort of coma for almost a week.

When he awoke and looked into what had been done about Naruto, it was too late. It was the council meeting that was supposed to acknowledge his reinstatement as their Hokage. But Sarutobi had demanded that they give Naruto to him, he knew that he wasn't safe. They then told him what they had done, of the type of banishment to the village that they had decided. In fact, the only reason that the boy was alive at all was because of a few clan heads that could not entirely over rule everyone else. It was the only way they could spare him for dying. Still, the council voted that Naruto would go to Butcher Bay, and sent him there via summons. He was there in moments.

Sarutobi slaughtered all of them that voted for the motion to send Naruto away. An entirely new counsel had been made, and he immediately sent ANBU agents out to retrieve Naruto. Even though they honestly tried to do it, as they had to follow orders, it was too late. Though they actually talked to the warden, and went into the prison itself, there was no sign of him at all. Not that that was so surprising given the nature of the prison.

He had left standing orders to retrieve the boy; they were more or less ignored. For the first time in his life, Sarutobi seriously considered abandoning this village, but he didn't.

Now, here he was, in a position that he never even thought could happen. The boy in question was being interrogated by Ibiki. While Ibiki wasn't interrogating him to be cruel, or rather trying to torture him, it still had to be done. They had to know how much influence the Kyubi had over him as well as a few other things that involved him surviving, and escaping prison.

'I suppose I should also ask Ibiki to find out what actually happened in Iwa.' Sarutobi thought with an almost bitter side note.

Two hours later, Ibiki was aloud in his office. He didn't look like he had good news.

"Well, start from the beginning and leave nothing out." Sarutobi said sighing.

"I haven't got anything out of him yet." Ibiki said with a cringe at the look his Hokage was giving him. He was clearly thinking about his competence.

"Explain." Sarutobi said, now somewhat fascinated.

"Well, to put it simply, he's been playing us for the last couple of hours. While he knows that eventually we'll get everything out of him, he apparently wants to screw around just for fun. I didn't actually catch on to it till about a half hour ago, he had more or less been pretending to be someone else entirely. And because of that, he wasn't actually lying as this other persona wasn't lying; I've never seen anything like it." Ibiki said shaking his head.

The aged Hokage didn't know what to make of this, "what exactly does this mean?"

"It means that it's going to take longer to break him than I thought. At least it will take longer doing it the 'friendly' way. More than likely though, he'll probably just get bored and start telling us everything we want to know before we get to that point." Ibiki said bitterly, this was kind of humiliating. "But if he doesn't, I assure you that he will talk. And I promise that it can be done without torturing him, it's just going to take time."

The Hokage just nodded. "Well alright then, you'd better get back to it, or do whatever you think you need to do." Ibiki just nodded and left. With a sigh, the Hokage looked at his desk. And for one moment, he forgot about all of the other stressful parts of this whole thing and idly wondered how much paperwork this would create, and how long it would take to do it.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"So let me get this strait, you killed two leaf ninja because you felt like it?" Ibiki said narrowing his eyes. Naruto or rather Ryuu just shrugged.

"I already told you what happened, they had it coming. But if you're asking if I think its ok just to kill people on a whim, if they're being assholes, yes." He finished with a kind of smirk. A part of Ibiki actually respected this part of him; at least he doesn't care about all the red tape.

"Listen, if you're waiting to hear an apology, you're not going to get one. I'm not sorry, and even if I could go back in time, knowing what was going to happen, I'd have done the same thing." Ryuu said with an honest tone. Ibiki had been right when he said that Ryuu was just going to end up getting bored jerking them around. That and the fact that it wasn't going to be quite as much fun after they caught on to it.

"Anyway, what else do you want to know? Oh, but first, can you get me something to eat? I don't care if you dose it; I'd rather take it myself than have it shoved down my throat. I'm just hungry; it's been a while since I've eaten. Actually it's been a very long time as I was in that whole seal induced stasis thing."

Ibiki thought about it, and nodded in the direction of the two way mirror. After that, Ryuu just started talking, clearly bored with all of this. This was a cell, he was used to cells, and it was boring. He ate the food, swallowed some pills that was given to him, he didn't even ask what they were. He also fronted information just so he wouldn't have to wait for them to ask the questions.

After all was said and done, Ibiki, as well as everyone behind the mirror was stunned. If it wasn't for his training, and the knowing that he had definitely taken the meds, he would say he was lying. Anyway, he had enough information for the moment, so he gave the boy an injection that put him in an induced coma.

After he had been carted away on a gurney to some very secure cell, he immediately set out to finish his report, or at least part of it. He wasn't even close to finishing the psych profile, which should, and would take time. You never got accurate information if you based it on one session.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Shikaku Nara, as well as the rest of the shinobi counsel was completely and utterly shocked. Sarutobi had long ago divided the two counsels; he would never again allow civilians to have any influence on shinobi business.

"My god, I haven't heard of Daichi since I was a child, and even then it was just a scary bed time story. He was the boogie man when I was a kid." Shikaku said in a soft voice shaking his head. The rest of the counsel was trying to wait patiently for him to explain.

As he did, every one of their faces steadily got paled. By the end of it, they honestly were at a loss of what to do. Hiashi thought he would start off; they needed to make a decision, and fast.

"It's no question among us that the boy's imprisonment was an abomination. That being said, we can't take it back. And given what we know now, we need to do something and fast. If we leave him alone, unless he is kept sedated, I have no doubt that he will escape." Hiashi said gravely. No one disputed his claim.

With another sigh the Hokage revealed yet another shock to them. "Even keeping him sedated won't stop him forever. Because of the Kyubi, it's only a matter of time before his body develops a strong enough resistance to wake up." This caused a few murmurs.

"However, I want to be perfectly clear on my stance in this matter. I want him to be released, which should be obvious. However, if it is deemed necessary, I will not hesitate to have him killed." This did bring at least some relief to them. It was Danzo's turn next.

"I say we wake him up and wait. We wait to make a decision until we have a complete analysis of his psyche at the least." Everyone knew what Danzo's angle on this was; even still, his argument had merit.

"Ok, let's say we do that, how do we convince him to cooperate? He is no fool, he will not buy any sort of fake deal we offer." Tsume spoke out for the first time. Again, a sound statement.

"I think the best way would be to be honest with him. Tell him that we need a complete and accurate evaluation of him before his fate is decided. That and bribe him with privileges, good food and bedding, and perhaps an Icha Icha book being an examples. I don't care what else he is, he's still a teenager." Shikaku said with a light chuckle. No one disputed this either, though there were a few blushes.

"Ok, then what? What do we tell him about why we're even bothering to go through the trouble? I mean, he is going to be skeptical as he did commit a capital offence any by all means he should be dead right now." the Aburame clan head spoke up drawing attention to himself. He rarely spoke at all.

Sarutobi already had that angle figured out though. "I have an idea on that, we can simply tell him that we know he is a jinchuuriki, and that it would be a huge waste to kill him. Though that means that we would have to explain the reasons behind his incarceration in the first place." He said with a sigh. Hiashi spoke up again after this.

"We tell him the truth. Not all of it, but the truth none the less. I have a feeling that he will know when he is being lied to, and while he may know that's not all there is to it, it should be enough to satisfy him." This made sense.

After that they discussed how exactly they to tell him and such, it was a very long meeting. But eventually they did come to a decision, or at least a temporary one.

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

_**Eh, not my greatest work. Even still, I think it's a good start. Review and tell me how I'm doing.**_


	5. Chapter 5

The Demon of Butcher Bay Ch.5:

Ryuu had been awake for almost an hour now; apparently they had come to some form of a decision. They woke him up first and started running him through the basic exercises to make sure that he was fully awake. It was also to make sure that all of his brain function had returned, he was after all, in a coma.

After all of that, he was given some clothes and was led to the council chamber. Or at least that's what he thought it was. Every eye was on him, though some of them were missing an eye, Ryuu almost let a smile slip at the thought. The atmosphere however was anything but light. Ryuu didn't let it get to him; he honestly could care less about their sense of security. For whatever reason, they were scared of him, and he knew it was something more than the Kyubi too.

"Ryuu," the Hokage took a moment to try and find the right words, he was at a loss to find the words to start this whole discussion. Ryuu decided to take the initiative.

"What are my options? Or rather, what else do you need to know?" Ryuu asked with a bored look. He had to admit though; it was amusing to watch all of these nobles and such squirm. They were completely uncomfortable.

"Well, for starters, we, I owe you some answers." The Hokage said, unable to hide the sadness creeping into his voice. Ryuu just raised his eye brow and took a glance around the room. He decided that he was going to make them squirm even more, but they did deserve it. After all, he knew that children were not supposed to be raised in prison.

Ryuu knew this, but it didn't much matter to him. While he was pissed that that was the way things ended up, he couldn't bring himself to hate them, not yet anyway. Until a year ago, prison was the only life he knew. And being honest with himself, his contact with the outside world had been fairly limited as well. He had only actually spoken to a few people, and had never eaten at a family table or anything.

"If you have answers, then I suppose I can ask the questions? For one, I would like to know why I was condemned to live in Butcher Bay. Or rather, why was I sentenced to die?" Ryuu asked, his voice no longer sounding bored, now having a hard deadly tone. The Hokage along with many of the other people in the room visibly winced.

"That is a long story, one that I am more than willing to tell you. However, you must understand that there are events that I cannot tell you about, not yet at least. There are a lot of secrets concerning you, and some of them I cannot reveal because it would put you in danger, as well as threaten the security of the village." The Hokage said, never breaking eye contact.

Ryuu thought about it, and nodded. It did make sense to him.

"I have been informed that you are aware of the nine tails inside you, is that correct?" Sarutobi asked, now very serious along with the other clan heads. Ryuu just smiled.

"Oh ya, me and the fox, well; we've been having friendly chats my whole life." Ryuu said and openly laughed at the look of horror on every face in the room.

"Would you mind telling me what they were about?" Sarutobi asked, half scared, and half genuinely curios to find out what the Kyubi would have to say.

"Well, for the most part he just offers me power, offers me ways to start to control his chakra. So far I have refused as I have not found a teacher that could guide me out here." At this, there was an audible sigh of relief from the whole chamber. "other than that, well he spends the rest of the time trying to convince me to just let him loose so he can destroy the ones that ruined my life to begin with." Ryuu said with a deadly tone.

That froze everyone in the room. "I have to admit, it is tempting. But letting him loose would mean a lot of innocent deaths, and I would have to take his word that he would in fact go after whoever it was that sealed him to begin with." Ryuu said in a neutral tone.

"I take it that that means it hasn't told you about Konoha, or the man that sealed him into you?" asked Sarutobi.

"No, not really. Every time I asked he simply evaded my question and redirected the conversation. It wasn't for a while that Daichi figured out that the fox is actually very intelligent. Scary smart actually." At the mention of Daichi, Ryuu couldn't help but notice a scared man flinch, one that he realized somewhat looked like Daichi.

"I take it that you are from the Nara clan, or rather its current clan head?" Ryuu asked with a small devious smile. The guy just kind of nodded. "Well, if you would like, I could tell you about him. No doubt you are afraid of what ideals he taught me. That is, if your clan still remembers the reasons leading to his incarceration."

The man just looked around the room, now all eyes were on him. He was the one that was uncomfortable now. "Well, I have done a little bit of digging, and there are a few mentions of his name in our clan records. But even with those, it would be easy to just dismiss him as a fairy tail. For his name has only been a scary bed time story for decades. The story itself is almost as old as the village itself apparently."

Ryuu narrowed his eyes, anger very evident. The Nara instantly knew what he had done, and it only took the rest of the council a few seconds to figure it out as well. In a way, he had just insulted Daichi. Basically said that he was dismissed and forgotten. That his punishment was for nothing, and that no one learned anything from his 'mistake'. It was as if he never existed.

With a sigh, the Nara started. "I am sorry that your father was forgotten, but it was long before my time." He couldn't help but notice the Hokage and several other people wince when he said father. Shikaku didn't care though, no matter who his real father was, no matter what his life should have been like, it wasn't. Daichi Nara was Naruto's or rather Ryuu's father. He raised him, he kept him safe, he taught him to defend himself, and he made sure that he had the know how to get out of that horrible place. That was as much as anyone could ask of a father in those circumstances.

"I know I don't have any right to ask this of you, but whatever the outcome here, I would be honored if you could tell me about him. If you did, I would give you my word that he would be remembered." Ryuu just stared at him until he made eye contact, and Shikaku gasped. He wasn't prepared for it; he didn't know how or why, all he knew was that it felt like Ryuu was trying to look in his soul.

Before he could do anything, Ryuu stopped whatever he was doing and just nodded. None of this was missed by any one, which was something that they didn't know about. While Ryuu did front information, and answer all their questions, it didn't mean that they knew even half of what he was capable of. Daichi's 'bloodline' was not recorded at all. They didn't know what questions to ask him, and he fronted information to mislead them into thinking that he was explaining and telling them everything.

The Hokage cleared his throat. "Anyway, I don't know how much you know, so I would like to start from the beginning if that's alright." The Hokage said, not wanting anymore interruptions. Ryuu just nodded.

"Well, to be completely honest, we have no idea why the Kyubi attacked us. But really, I suppose that that really doesn't matter right now. Have you ever heard of The Yellow Flash?" Sarutobi asked, unable to hide his pride.

"Yes actually. I know he is dead, and I know that he is hated as much as he is feared in Iwa. Apparently from what I can figure out, he more or less was the reason you won the third shinobi war. Or at least, that's what I can ascertain from the way people talk about him." Ryuu said with a strange tone. "I have traveled hundreds of miles, through countless small and large countries, and everywhere I go, I hear stories of him. His name always half whispered, as if he were some sort of god."

This was not news to any of them, in some ways he was. He was vertically unstoppable in battle; his name would be one that would be remembered forever. Or at least as long as the Leaf village was around.

"Well, I don't know the rumors that are still going around, but I can assure you they are not around without reason." This was something that Ryuu believed. "To continue, it was The Yellow Flash, our fourth Hokage, and the Yondaime that ultimately defeated the Kyubi. He was a seal master, and found the only way to stop it."

"There are some blood lines that may have been able to subdue it, our Shodaime Hokage could have stopped it, but his bloodline is all but a memory. It is theoretically possible that a user of the sharingan could control it; however there are none who are even close to being powerful enough to control the Kyubi.

"With these things in mind, the Yondaime came to the conclusion that the only way to stop it was to seal it inside a human being, a child whose chakra coils had not yet developed. He chose to create a jinchuuriki despite his utter revulsion to the idea." Sarutobi said with a sad look. All this did was confusing Ryuu though.

"I don't understand, why wouldn't he want a jinchuuriki for his village, especially for the nine tails? And to add to that, how did he do it? Daichi did not know a whole lot about them, but from what I understand a Bijju must first be defeated, and then be sort of willing to be sealed or something like that." Ryuu said confusion evident in his voice.

"Well for one, the Yondaime had no illusions on what that child's life would be like. It doesn't matter where a jinchuuriki is raised, they're all treated the same. He would never have elected to do what he did unless there was no other option.

"As for how he did it, well he created a seal so powerful that even the nine tails could not break it. For the most part, you are correct in that a Bijju much first be subdued before a sealing can be done. Every jinchuuriki alive today, is a result of our first Hokage. Because of his bloodline, he was able to completely control the Bijju; he then gave them away to other villages in hopes of creating good will, and avoiding further bloodshed. For the most part, he was successful, at least for a time.

"There are a few other ways to seal a Bijju in a human, but none that can be done on a Bijju of the Kyubi's caliber. The Yondaime found a way. He invented a jutsu to summon the God of Death, and then used probably the most intricate seal ever invented to seal the Kyubi. However, that came at a cost. He would have to give his life in return, he knew this, and did it anyway. It you who he chose to be the vessel for the Kyubi."

All was silent for a while, even after fifteen years the loss of Minato and the loss of loved ones still hurt. Ryuu himself was silent for a while, and then Ryuu spoke up.

"Why me? Why did he chose me?" Ryuu asked, for the first time actually feeling and showing sadness. Sarutobi just hid his face, stopping the flow of tears that threatened to spill out. Similar expressions were on most of the members of the counsel.

"I can't tell you, not yet anyway." The Hokage said, and then quickly followed up seeing the betrayed look on Ryuu's face. Whatever else he may have been, he was still a child that had been abandoned. "I cannot tell you because it would endanger your life, there are also other reasons and secrets and such that would have to be revealed if I did tell you.

"What I can tell you was that the Yondaime never wanted this life for you, if there was anything else that could have been done, he would have done it." Again, more sadness was evident.

"Ok fine, say I believe you. Say I believe that he was a good man and had the best intensions, and truly regretted doing what had to be done." The room tensed; there was something in his voice that seemed dangerous. "If all of this is true, then why was I sentenced to either die, or grow up in hell?"

Complete and utter silence, even Hiashi Hyuga was unnerved at the question, it was a valid one. Sarutobi did not even bother to hide his anguish, neither did some others.

"Ryuu, I can only imagine what it must have bee…"

"Don't, don't you dare pity me. I have no interest in all of you feeling sorry for yourselves because you feel you failed in some way. I don't care, so why don't you answer my question." Ryuu said icily, he had never been as serious as he was right now.

The Hokage just nodded, face now one of indifference. "The answer is fear, plain and simple. I was not in on the decision and if I was, I assure you that it never would have happened. I will not bother to go into the details of all of the politics that were involved, to many things came into play that night. The bottom line is that hundreds of people died that night, everyone lost someone, and you were the easiest to blame. As I was unconscious, there was no one left to explain the nature of the seal. Many thought you were simply a reincarnation of the Kyubi. Actually it was only because of a few clan heads here that you weren't killed outright." After a few minutes, Ryuu bent down and apparently started to cry.

After a few moments, Sarutobi cursed and threw a kunai in Ryuu's skull. There was silence and horror for a moment before Ryuu seemed to dissipate into a dark cloud of smoke. There was shock for a moment.

"ANBU." Instantly four ANBU agents appeared. "Would you please go find and restrain the boy." The Hokage said dryly. After the ANBU agents left, there was silence for a few moments before Tsume let out a bark of laughter.

"Imagine that, a child fooling a room full of clan heads, and the Hokage." She then started laughing openly. She was definitely starting to like this kid.

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

Ryuu was sure he didn't have long before they figured it out; actually he was surprised that they hadn't already.

'Well, they might be following me right now, trying to see what I'll do.' Ryuu thought to himself. Ryuu was a little paranoid about just about everything, it came with growing up the way he did.

'This is as good a place as any.' The thought to himself looking around the clearing in the forest. It was beautiful to him, a full moon out, in a small clearing surrounded by nothing but green trees.

'A good place to die.' Ryuu thought to himself with a sad smile. He had accepted it, he knew what he had done was suicide. They would find him; they would kill him on sight. He knew it, but there was one thing he had to do before he died.

With a bite on his thumb, and a few hand seals, he summoned the closest thing he had to a true friend. With a poof of black smoke, came a creature that most would see as something out of a nightmare. It was small, young, but it was still fierce.

"Hello Byakko." Ryuu said bowing. Byakko was a hellhound that was actually the son of the first hellhound he summoned, though he had yet to earn the right to his sire's name. But he was getting there.

Byakko tended to prefer the color white, or something akin to it, he stood only four feet at the shoulder, and was probably only seven and a half feet long. Even still, he was very fast, energetic, and a little odd for the 'normal' hellhound.

"And greetings to you brother Ryuu." He said in his strange deep, yet clearly young voice. This was a customary greeting if there was time when a summoning was made. The hellhound clan was after all secretive of their names; a greeting like this meant that there was a huge amount of respect, and trust between them.

"Listen, there isn't much time, I need you to warn Riddick that he will be known soon." Ryuu said in an apologetic tone. Byakko just sighed.

"He knows, we all do." Ryuu was surprised, it showed on his face. "It has been a while since anyone has heard from you. I think Riddick knew what kind of trouble you were in right when the rumors started that war was on the horizon. When we tried to summon you, it was too late; the seals were already placed on you.

"Riddick and the rest of us knew that it was only a matter of time before you were captured and forced to reveal all that you knew." Ryuu's eyes dropped, he couldn't help but feel ashamed.

"It's ok, frankly everyone is surprised and impressed that you have lasted this long, but I thank you for giving us warning, or at least warning him." Ryuu nodded, he couldn't help but feel slightly proud that anyone was impressed by him.

They spent a few minutes talking of better times, that is, the year that Ryuu had been wandering. Ryuu had summoned Byakko and his brothers to train, and for company. They didn't mind, actually they were excited to have a summoner. But all good things must come to an end; they both sensed that someone was now watching them.

"Do you want me to fight with you; I would gladly die by your side brother. Or, you could come with me." Byakko said honestly. Ryuu was touched, but not willing.

"No, this is my mistake, my fight, and my dishonor. I will try to redeem some of that by fighting as fiercely as I can, but I don't think ill last long, I am not that strong yet." Byakko just nodded, they awkwardly hugged, and then he was gone.

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

Hinata was spending her nights as she usually did, wandering around until she was tired enough to sleep. She slept in whenever she wanted, no one wanted or cared to wake her anymore. That was fine.

The forest looked different at night, especially with the Byakugan. While overall it was mostly the same, for her at least, everything was sharper at night. It was because of this, and luck that she saw a slight movement on the edge of her maximum distance with it. She frequently followed creatures just for the hell of it. She was a tracker after all, and sometimes they led her to places that she otherwise would never have found. Besides that, she had never seen a shadow move by its self before.

It was a testament to her tracking abilities that she was able to pick up any form of a trail, let alone keep up with it. She had almost lost it when she finally found a person standing in a clearing talking to…. Something.

Hinata's eyes couldn't have been wider, she recognized this person. She was sure of it; it was the boy who she saw earlier today, the one that almost started a war. He should be dead; he should be in some ANBU holding cell. It should have been impossible to escape. But he had, somehow he had escaped against all odds.

Not only that, but he was calmly talking to possibly the most deadly, the most lethal, the most beautiful beast she had ever seen. She had never even heard of something like it before. It looked like a giant wolf with short scales all over it that seemed to shift colors.

She wasn't close enough to hear them, and she wasn't good enough to read lips yet, even still, she knew they were finishing up their conversation. After a moment, they embraced, something that also baffled her, and then the creature dispelled.

'A summon?' she thought to herself.

"You can come out now." the boy said loudly enough for her to hear. She stopped, he knew she was there; she wasn't sure what to do. She couldn't take him, she was sure, but he didn't seem to want to hurt her. If he did, she would probably already be dead.

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

Ryuu just stood there, staring at the moon. It had been almost a minute and the stranger still hadn't come out, that was fine with him. With a twitch, he received his clone's memories.

"It's ok; they know I'm loose now. I have twenty minutes before they find me, twenty-five if I'm lucky. By the way, thank you, thank you for letting me say goodbye." Ryuu said calmly, not taking his eyes off the moon. For some reason, he never had to dull his vision when he looked at the moon; it was just the right kind of light.

He could hear the stranger come out.

"Umm, aren't you going to run?" asked a somewhat timid voice, Ryuu instantly wished he had kept his mouth shut, it was a girl. And about his age if he could tell by the voice.

Even though Ryuu had been to towns and such, he still had yet to even talk to a girl his age. He actually had talked to very few people. And girls well, he simply didn't know what to do.

With a sigh, he dismissed his stupid fears; he was going to die anyway.

"No, I'm tired of running. They are going to find me anyway, and I like this place. It's probably the best place I can think of to die, its peaceful here." Ryuu explained, still not breaking eye contact with the sky.

"I see," the girl said, though she was still almost fifteen meters away from him. She was scared of him, he knew, but at the same time she wasn't, that was interesting. "Is it ok if I stay here with you while you wait?" the girl asked again timidly.

This time Ryuu did look at her, she obviously knew him, but he didn't know her. He saw her eyes, and that was at least identifiable.

"You are a Hyuga, correct?" Ryuu asked, now breaking eye contact to look at the moon again. This was partly because he considered it rude to stare, and he was trying to hide his blush. She was beautiful to him, though it didn't really matter.

"I am, I am from the main house." She said, gaining some of her courage back, now realizing that she wasn't in any danger as long as she didn't attack him. However, he just looked at her with a strange look.

She blushed again realizing that he probably didn't know anything about the houses and it must have sounded stupid of her. But before she could say anything else, he again looked at the moon.

"I see, I would be honored if a Hyuga of the main house would see fit to take the time to entertain a dead man." The boy said with a small bow.

Hinata's jaw dropped. That was a greeting; or rather a way of talking that hadn't been used in decades. The only reason that she recognized it at all was because she sometimes heard the elders; the very old elders talk like that.

She also realized that he spoke with an accent that was somewhat similar; it was as if he had grown up in an earlier century. For some reason, his manners made her blush even more. She didn't know what to do, so she just said the first thing that came to her mind.

"ok." She said, mentally kicking herself at how stupid it must have sounded. But if the boy noticed, he didn't show it. He simply sat down, and looked back at the moon.

Not knowing what to do, she timidly walked up to him and sat down about ten feet from him. Suddenly the boy turned and sat facing her; she blushed at his intense stare, and then just gasped at the feeling of a strange detachment from reality. It was if he was trying to stare into her soul. After a few moments, he flinched, shook his head and silently cursed.

Before he could say anything, she started.

"What was that was that feeling real?" Hinata asked, amazed somewhat, she had no idea what he had tried to do, but it felt, well, comforting.

"Yes, I'm sorry; it was very rude of me. I didn't even do it correctly. Being completely honest I'm not even sure what it does, it is some kind of ability that goes with the eyes." He said looking at the ground.

"That's ok; it felt good for some reason." Hinata stopped, not sure what to do anymore. She blushed again when the boy looked up at her and waited for her to do something.

"Would you give me your name? I would like to know it, if you would like, I could give you mine." The boy said, looking down, apparently embarrassed for asking.

Hinata just blinked, and then she remembered something about her history lessons about this. It was a practice that was no longer being used, even in the Hyuga main house. But apparently this guy wasn't up to date with the times.

"Sure, my name is Hinata Hyuga, heir to the main house." The boy looked up shock evident in his face.

While Hinata was the heir, that wasn't held in as high esteem as it once was. If it were, she would not be allowed to go on missions. Even still, if this guy considered asking for a name such a big deal, she could only imagine what it must be like to find out that she was a 'princess'. The thought made Hinata blush, and want to laugh.

Ryuu, remembering his manners quickly spoke up.

"I am Ryuu, adopted son of Daichi Nara, though my true name is Naruto Uzumaki." Ryuu said with a bow. Hinata was confused.

"What do you mean? Why don't you use your real name?" Hinata asked all embarrassment forgotten.

This continued for a time. She asked questions, he answered them. Ryuu asked very few, though he was happy to answer any questions that she might have. As long as they didn't give away any secrets that were not his to give.

They were actually having a good time, for those few minutes, they both forgot about everything else. They talked, told each other of their lives, and occasionally even smiled something that was very foreign for both of them. He even told her about what actually happened in Iwa, and how he had been captured.

It was right after he finished explaining about the 'whispers' that he occasionally got, when he realized that the ANBU were fast approaching.

"You'd better get out of here, they're almost here. If you're seen with me, you may have to answer some awkward questions." Ryuu said standing up, stretching out, and getting ready to die.

Hinata didn't know what to do, she didn't want to leave, but she knew she had to. He was after all an S-class criminal, even if he wasn't that powerful yet. If she was caught talking to him like this, it could be considered treason.

"I'm afraid it's too late for that." An ANBU agent said, seemingly walking out of a tree.

Both of the teens thought the same thing, 'Oh Shit!'

"Hinata Hyuga, you will be questioned later. I have here long enough to hear all that I had to too know that you are no traitor. Go home." The ANBU said in an emotionless voice. Hinata just took one more look at Ryuu, trying to think of something to say. But he beat her to it.

"I'm glad I met you Hinata. If it means anything, I want you to know that there would have been no other way that I would rather have spent that time. Goodbye." Ryuu said, only looking at her in the eye for a few moments.

Hinata felt like she wanted to cry, something she hadn't done in years. But she knew he was right, and she was happy that he was happy that he enjoyed his time with her. She knew he was going to die here, with that in mind, she bowed to him once more, and left.

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

_**Not really all that happy with the way that this turned out. But I couldn't think of another way to write it. Anyway, just to clarify again, Ryuu's eyes are not another super bloodline. They have no real power, ill explain in time.**_


	6. Chapter 6

_**I admit it, I fucked up the last chapter. So bad that I could have ruined the whole story. I felt it was important enough to at least try and fix this as soon as possible. Though this chapter is shorter than normal. **_

**The Demon of Butcher Bay Ch. 6**

As soon as Ryuu was escorted into the council room a man who he could only assume was the clan head of the Hyuga clan asked him a question with barely contained rage. At first he didn't understand, but then he realized that he probably knew that he had been talking with his daughter.

"Why did you run knowing you would be caught? Or did you actually expect to escape?" Hiashi practically hissed out hoping to find a way to humiliate him. Ryuu just shrugged innocently.

"It's a mystery, become a detective." Ryuu said trying to hide the sly smile that he had but failing to do so. This statement got several reactions. Hiashi was apparently trying to make him catch fire by glaring at him, a woman with red fangs on her cheeks snorted in amusement, the Nara clan head had a small smirk on his face, a blond man and a large man in armor were openly grinning, and even the Hokage himself seemed a little amused. Apparently, the Hyuga clan head was not liked all that much.

Before things could get out of hand, that is any more smart ass remarks from Ryuu, the Hokage intervened.

"That was quiet the performance, how much of it was real how much of it was bullshit?" the Hokage asked in a calm tone. Ryuu just sighed.

"I don't know how much you know, but I'm going to assume that you somehow were watching yourself." The Hokage only nodded in as a reply. "How much did you see?" Ryuu asked, hoping to see how much he could hide.

"We all started watching about half way through the conversation with you and your summon." The Hokage was careful not to say its name out loud; he could see that that would be an insult. "I am curious to find out why you didn't leave. You could have summoned a big enough summon to escape, but instead you chose to stay. It doesn't make sense, from what I can tell, you're a survivor, not a samurai." The Hokage said with a knowing look showing his insight and wisdom.

Ryuu practically groaned, he was caught and he knew it. However, he did have one thing going for him, this was confirmed when the Hyuga demanded an answer. That meant that they had no real way of knowing if anything they heard was actually true. So in a way, they were just fishing for answers. But most importantly, they probably didn't know about Riddick, not yet anyway.

"If you could hear me, then I assume you know how I was captured." Ryuu said carefully observing the look on all of their faces. Almost every person there faces' soured. 'Good' Ryuu thought to himself. "That was not a lie."

"Well, it's kind of for the same reasons, no regrets. I still have questions, and I know I would never stop thinking about them if I didn't at least try to get answers. Even though ill probably die because of escaping." This was only a half truth.

"Ok, so why not just say that?" the Hokage asked clearly confused.

"Simple, he is like a brother to me. And from what I am told no brother would ever leave his sibling to die unless he believed that it is what he wanted." Said shrugging. The Hokage nodded at this.

"Ok, so why lie to Hinata? I can see no reason to not lie to her." This time it was the Nara to speak up. It surprised Ryuu that he hadn't figured it out yet.

"I planned to be caught, if I told her, she would have given that away, and I had hoped to keep that a secret. While it may not have really hurt me all that much, it would just be one more secret that I would have. I doubt it would have helped me, but you never know." Ryuu said shrugging. They all seemed to understand that as well.

'Raised by a Nara indeed.' Was what most of them were thinking.

The Hokage had one more question before they got back to the main discussion.

"Just out of curiosity, what was that clone? I've never seen one like it before, and it seemed to be incomplete. It apparently can only last so long before it dispels." The Hokage asked with genuine curiosity.

Ryuu just sighed, unhappy that he was going to have to give away something else. If he didn't tell them, it would undoubtedly be forced out of him later.

"Your right, it is incomplete. It is a shadow clone that Daichi taught me, though he also knew that it was incomplete. He told me that the true shadow clone jutsu was much more powerful, but that it was considered a forbidden technique for various reasons. Because of this, I was only able to take the clone this far, it's as close as I can come to the true form." He nodded, accepting this. However, that was the last of the unimportant questions.

Suddenly the Hokage was serious. Ryuu got serious too, knowing that it was finally time for his fate to be decided.

"I would like to start by answering your questions, we owe you that much." Said the Hokage getting nods from everyone but Hiashi.

Ryuu didn't waste time. "Though I don't want to care, I can't help but want to know my true heritage. I would like to know who my biological parents are, and why I was chosen to be the sacrifice. By the time I found out that you weren't going to tell me, it was already too late to get away." Ryuu added with an afterthought.

The entire room was uneasy, a giveaway that everyone knew exactly who his parents were, they were almost afraid to tell him for some reason. The Hokage was in deep thought; Ryuu took it as a sign that he was actually considering telling him the truth.

First, the Hokage addressed the rest of the counsel. "As far as I can tell, he is mature enough to handle it. He is also smart enough to not spread it around, and he can clearly take care of himself if he managed to escape at all. Does anybody have any objections?" the Hokage asked in all seriousness. Unfortunately, there were some very big concerns from everybody.

Finally, Danzo spoke up for the first time. "He cannot be told; it will anger him, and encourage him to release the nine tails. Just imagine how dangerous he would become if he did escape the village no matter how unlikely." Though they hated to admit it, Danzo was right. If he were told, Naruto would undoubtedly be filled with righteous fury. There was no Yondaime this time to stop the Kyubi, if Naruto released it, they would all die. Though Ryuu didn't know what they were talking about, even he saw their logic from their point of view. All eyes turned to the Hokage.

"I do not think he will do that. He knows that if he did release the Kyubi, countless innocents would die, and considering his actions in the past when confronted with such an ultimatum, I do not think that he would ever do that. Come after us maybe, but endanger any innocents, I do not think he has it in him." The Hokage said looking straight at Ryuu.

Ryuu hated to admit it, but he was right. No matter how angry he was, he could never bring himself to purposely kill an innocent. He couldn't help it, a life time of hatred and ugliness gave him a perspective on the value of life that few could ever hope to understand.

As he looked up, he saw that many of the council members were reluctantly nodding in agreement. As dangerous as it was, they couldn't help but feel all the more guilty at keeping the knowledge of his heritage away from him. But before anyone said anything else, the Nara clan head spoke up again.

"Ryuu, I want your word, I want your word that no matter how angry you are, you will not endanger the ones not responsible for your imprisonment." Shikaku said making eye contact with Ryuu. Ryuu noticed that he had not had Ryuu promise that he wouldn't seek revenge on them.

After a few moments, Ryuu made up his mind and decided on an action. 'No regrets' he told himself. "I give you all my word that I will never seek to harm or otherwise hurt any innocent no matter how angry I am. I give you my word that I will not unleash the Kyubi." Ryuu said with conviction.

The Nara nodded. "I'm sold, tell him." He said crossing his arms. While Shikaku didn't speak for all of them, everyone trusted his logic. At the very least if Shikaku trusted the boy, which was all the clan heads of the Yamanaka and Akimichi clans needed to know. After a few moments Tsume Inuzuka also gave her support. After that, the rest soon folded.

"Very well," the Hokage said in a grave voice. Ryuu prepared himself. "Ryuu, your full name was never actually recorded due to the danger it would put you in. That is why your full name did not appear when you signed your summoning contract. Your true name is Naruto Uzumaki Namikaze. Also known as the Yellow Flash, and the Yondaime Hokage." Sarutobi said with a sigh of relief as if a great weight had been lifted off his shoulders.

This did shock Ryuu, that was the last thing he expected. He didn't speak or move for almost five minutes; everyone gave him as much time as he needed.

"Then why me? If that is true, why would he seal it in his own child?" Ryuu asked in a still shocked tone. Sarutobi was quick to answer.

"He could not bring himself to seal the nine tails in anyone else's child. While he had no idea of the fate that would ultimately follow you, he had no illusions to what your life would be like. He could not bring himself to ask anyone else to sacrifice their child. How would he ever be able to call himself Hokage if he did? How would he ever look at himself in the mirror?" the third answered softly.

That hit Ryuu the most. And as much as he hated to admit it, it made sense. After all, he himself would have done the same if he were in his position. How could he hate a man for doing what he himself would have done? He simply couldn't live with that regret.

Even with all this, he still wanted to be angry, but he couldn't. After a while, he gave up, and relaxed. It was over, he finally knew. To everyone else, he appeared to be at peace.

"Now what?" Ryuu asked. 'No, Naruto' Ryuu thought to himself, that was going to be confusing for a while.

"Well, that's really what this whole thing is about. What do we do with you? For the moment, I believe that you would not ever harm any civilian or innocent, and unless I am mistaken by reading your body language wrong, you will hopefully bear no animosity towards the village as every person responsible is now long dead." The Hokage said now really looking at Naruto carefully, but he was still too shocked to show any real emotion.

"The last two reasons that I can think of is your crimes that brought you here in the first place, and the fact that you are a jinchuuriki and could give our enemies a significant advantage over us."

Ryuu nodded, that he understood. It would be stupid of them to let someone with that much potential just walk away. What if he joined a village that would eventually go to war with them?

Danzo was thinking and plotting, it was obvious the way the Hokage was leaning. Danzo needed every opportunity to try and get the boy on the village's side willingly. After that, he could figure out how to get a hold of him himself.

'If the boy is going to be released, it's going to be done on terms that will encourage his cooperation.' Danzo thought to himself already having a plan in the workings.

"I think I have a solution." Danzo said out loud. Everyone was suspicious of him, and Ryuu picked up on this. So, Danzo knew that he had to give at least a part of his plan away so that they knew that at least he was telling some of the truth.

The Hokage motioned for him to continue, apparently looking for anyway to help the boy.

"I can see that you want to release the boy to do as he will. But that is too much of a risk. However, if his word is as good as you seem to think, I propose that you simply have him swear to never join a village but the ones that are more or less permanently allied to use, and that he come back to us if war does break out. In addition to this, I think it appropriate that a tracking seal be placed on him. "

Many of the council members were shocked, and clearly wanted to hear more of his motive.

"As I can see that if we gave him the choice of prison, death, or just being a shinobi of the leaf, no matter what he would view this as just another form of servitude." This, Danzo actually believed and understood. He would feel the same.

"As I can see no one here trusts me, I will elaborate. Sarutobi will not kill him, period. That means that no matter what, I have no doubt that he will find a way to escape. If he is to be out on his own no matter what, I see that this is the best option." Danzo stopped at that, and let it simmer. He knew that they still didn't trust him, that he still had some hidden motive, but they could see the logic his plan.

After a full minute of silence of everyone considering this, and the fox boy not trying to hide the act that he was studying him intently, he continued in hopes that he could gain some sort of trust from the boy.

"As for his crimes; if you are willing to take his word on everything so far, then it's not a stretch to assume that he is telling the truth about his motives for the murders. If that is the case, then it would be probable cause to do that, as the ambassadors that Sarutobi chose would have been executed anyway for their crimes."

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

Ryuu was thinking as fast as he could. He could tell that most of the counsel wanted to accept this plan, at least to some extent, probably out of guilt. What ultimately sold Ryuu was Danzo himself. Daichi had actually known him when he was imprisoned, though Danzo was only a kid back then. Still, he could tell what kind of man he would become.

This was a man that got what he wanted, if Ryuu didn't agree to his terms, especially ones this generous, there was no doubt in Ryuu's mind that he had some way to get either capture him, or kill him. Even if he had the Hokage's protection. All things considered, agreeing to Danzo's terms was really the only option that he had. He needed to act fast to at least seem that he would both not be a threat, and willing to take Danzo's counsel.

"If those were the terms that were required for my release, than I would accept them." Ryuu said with a tone of submission. This kind of surprised everybody, well almost everybody. Both the Hokage and Shikaku could at least guess at Ryuu's decision.

"Is there anything else that anyone would like to add or modify?" the Hokage asked, trying to act as if the decision was already made. He too realized that agreeing to Danzo's terms was probably the only way to give Naruto at least some freedom, at least for the moment.

It took almost another three hours to finalize all the details involved. There were a lot of extra terms, but they were reasonable. Ryuu, or rather Naruto, had to agree to be added to the bingo books listed officially as a shinobi. Though it would say that he was granted amnesty from leaf, and that he was not a missing Nin. This way, it would be just that much harder for him to disappear, now that just about every shinobi in the world would no doubt know his face. They had to make his amnesty public, and at least half of the reasons for it, this was too big of a matter to simply sweep under the table.

After that, he had to agree to 'check in' at the leaf village or one of its solid allies every six months. This would help confirm that the tracking seal was indeed not tampered with, and that he couldn't wander all that far away. Not only that, but he did have to do an occasional mission in favor of the leaf in some way. Or at least does something on a regular basis that would in some way help them.

Then of course was the oath on which certain villages and organizations that he was not allowed to in any way cooperate with.

The final term was that the Hokage himself place the seal on him. The Hokage was the best seal master in the village, only rivaled by Jiraiya. It really would be next to impossible to find someone who was good enough to do anything to it.

In addition to the seal, it also severely limited Naruto's usage of the Kyubi's chakra. This didn't bother him all that much; he had practically never drawn on any of its power before. Still, he knew one day he would want, or have to learn to control it. And this made sure that he would have to come back to them when that happened.

While it still limited Ryuu a lot, he did understand their view. Not only that, but it was extremely generous of them to even allow him to ever leave the village. He was getting off very well.

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

After Ryuu made the oaths, the sealing was done almost immediately. That was fine; it was smart of them to do it before he left the room. After that though, he still couldn't leave until his status recognized by the other nations. However, he could wander the village; they would be informed the next day. The Hokage wanted to get this in motion as soon as possible.

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

"Well if that's it for now, I think we can finally go sleep." The Hokage said wearily. It was true, they had been there the entire night, but Ryuu had one more thing he wanted to ask, and right now was the best time to do it.

"Um, I do have a request Hokage-sama."Ryuu said, raising some eyebrows in the room. The Hokage gave a gesture for him to continue.

"If it's at all possible, before my status is made public." Ryuu said not able to hide the smugness in his voice. "Do you think it would be possible for me to play a little joke joke on that Inuzuka kid?" Ryuu finished with a grin, but at the same time trying to have a pleading look for the benefit of Tsume.

The Hokage himself couldn't hide a chuckle. "Tsume sama, do you have any objections?" Tsume just gave a feral grin.

"What do you have in mind?"

****

"Wow, seriously?" Ino moaned as she saw the team with Rock Lee in it approach. Apparently, every single team had been summoned to this field for some reason. They had all gotten the summons from ANBU agents that wouldn't elaborate in anyway.

After waiting another hour, Sasuke Uchiha had had enough.

"Ok, what the hell is going on?" he growled out. As unusual as it was for them to agree with him, everybody did. This was just plain weird.

"Ok, let's think about this." Shikamaru said as he was woken up by Sasuke. Reluctantly, they all more or less gathered around him.

"Ok, so far every one of the four squads has been summoned here. And, none of our instructors were told to come along even though this has to be a big deal. Not only that, but for something this big, why isn't there someone here to brief us, and why would we even be out in the middle of nowhere instead of in the Hokage's office?" this got everyone thinking.

Sakura was the first to speak up. "Your right, none of this in any way makes sense. For that matter, none of this is conceivably justified by any circumstances that I can think of, so why would ANBU want us out here?" at this, everybody got tensed, they all were thinking it, but it was Shino that actually voiced it.

"This isn't official, they were either not ANBU at all, or were given false orders to deliver the summons." He was right, and they knew it. It was Shikamaru's turn again. For once he was fully alert.

"Ok, let's assume that either one of those is true. Who would want us out here? It might be a trap, but who is stupid enough to think that they can take us all on at once? A large number of shinobi would already have been spotted, and the only ones that would be powerful enough to kill us all, would have no reason to come out here themselves. So who, who wants us dead bad enough to risk something like this?" Shikamaru finished with an obvious nervous tone.

It went unsaid that they all knew they were far enough away that even if they asked for back up, it wouldn't get to them in time.

All were thinking, while being on full alert. Shikamaru was getting frustrated, it was very rare that something could stump him like this, it just didn't happen. Everyone knew this, and even Sasuke Uchiha was nervous. Shikamaru decided to think out loud, any input at this point would help.

"Think, it would have to be someone…."

"With nothing to lose perhaps?" An all too familiar voice said out of the forest. Every one of their eyes were as big as physically possible.

Already, they would never have forgotten that sinister tone, they would remember it for the rest of their lives.

"No." Kiba whispered out, though every one of them heard it. Then, they heard footsteps coming from the forest; they all instantly got into a defensive formation.

And sure enough, out walked the person that they hadn't admitted had given them all at least one nightmare.

_**So, did I fix it? I hope so, because I'm out of ideas otherwise. I know that some of it seems unrealistic, well, to fucking bad, that's the way it is. **_


	7. Chapter 7

**The Demon of Butcher Bay Ch. 7**

Danzo was thinking hard. He was now no longer sure that he had done enough to control Ryuu. Sure, everything had already done was satisfactory enough for everyone else, but he was no fool. Those seals would not last forever, even if it was Sarutobi that made them. Add that to the fact that if he wanted too, Ryuu never had to come back to the fire nation again. No, this needed something more, something to motivate him to come back.

As Danzo thought, he realized that he needed someone with Ryuu, someone to travel with him that was from Konoha. Someone that would both be willing to leave, but would also leave something behind. This would work doubly well if they didn't even realize it yet. That would give time to spend enough time away, and therefore build up a feeling of, homesickness, among other things. If this could be done, then Ryuu would be more open to returning.

Danzo considered his options, who to choose? Then it him, Danzo almost palmed himself in the face. Hinata Hyuga was the perfect solution. She was willing to leave, she both got along with him and understood him, she could be sealed, she would be able to relate to him in that way, Hiashi would be more than happy to get rid of her and declare her unfit to be heir. And best of all, they could fall in love, something that he could never understand but was fully capable of understanding the effects of it, unconditional devotion, and trust of both partners. If he could figure out a way to get Hinata to subconsciously want to return for something, he would follow.

Not only that, but she would slow him down, making it that much easier for his ROOT agents to capture them.

But at the same time, there were some unknown factors that could turn this against him as easily as it could help him. After considering his options and the repercussions of those options, both with the two teens, and the Hokage and the council, he deemed it worth the risk.

So with that, Danzo set to plotting out the rest of his plans.

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

No one moved for almost thirty seconds. Every one of them just studied the form of the boy, or whatever he was, that had somehow escaped from right under ANBU and the Hokage's nose. It should have been impossible, yet here he was. Not only were they all scared that he was there, but the calm and serene looks that he had only served to further unnerve them. He was completely at ease, without a care in the world.

Shikamaru knew they needed to act first. Whatever this guy had planned, it was undoubtedly centered on none of them getting out of here. That left one choice, to engage him.

There was absolutely no way they would be able to escape someone like him, even if he hadn't had the time to set a trap. The reason being that his original assessment of his skills not being S class was obviously wrong. If he was able to escape from that kind of confinement, then he truly was an S class criminal. Someone that none of them, not even Sasuke could take on. At least not yet anyway, very likely never. Not alone anyway.

Shikamaru could only hope that he was weakened from the interrogations' that he had gone through. Though if he was affected in any way, it was not detectible in anyway. Shikamaru had no real sensor talent, but even he could literally feel the sheer amount of chakra he had. He wasn't even warmed up yet. It was in the air all around them, he was sure that Kiba could literally taste the sinister chakra in the air.

Kiba was by the way on the verge of a nervous breakdown.

'All of our chakra combined is probably only a fraction of his true level. That means that he is easily capable of A and S rank jutsus, jutsus of mass destruction so to speak. We need to solve this, and fast.' Shikamaru thought with certainty.

With those thoughts, Shikamaru acted and sent his shadow out faster than he ever had before. To his absolute astonishment, it actually worked.

"Got you" Shikamaru said with a stunned expression. All of them, except Hinata strangely practically started crying in relief. It didn't last more than a few seconds though.

"Actually, I now have you; I expected more of you all." The monster in front of them said with a disappointed sigh.

They were confused at first, but then they realized that none of them could actually move.

When they looked down, all of them paled to the point of risking unconsciousness. Shikamaru shadow bind technique had somehow been turned on him, and then extended in multiple threads to bind all of them at once. Shikamaru was not only stunned that this guy not only knew the secrets of his clan, but had this level of mastery over it. Even he could not control more than five shadows at once; he had complete control of twelve.

Then, to only further horrify Shikamaru and begrudgingly impress him, he forced Kiba to walk forward using only a hand sign. No one else even moved. He had so much control that he could apparently cancel out some of the side effects. Shikamaru had only ever seen his father display such a level of control.

'This is unreal.' He thought to himself.

**XXXXXXX**

Kiba was openly weeping, as well as whimpering. Akamaru was howling in frustration. It only got worse as a shadow seemed to materialize in front of him. Creating a pillar of darkness that seemed to be made of controlled chaos, chaos and nightmares. Then, out of the darkness, a pair of glowing eyes was visible. Eyes like this monster in front of them. Eyes that only invited death, no longer shining and reflecting the light but actually glowing with malicious intent.

"You're not afraid of the dark are you?" he asked Kiba who had since been forced into a kneeling position. Kiba had a look of pure terror on his face, his body shaking, openly soiling himself. They all looked on in frustrated helplessness as their friend was about to be consumed by this nightmare of a technique.

And then as suddenly as this all began, it all ended, and they were released. Then, the psychopath in front of them dropped and rolled on the ground, howling in hysterical laughter. They all just blinked in confusion as he continued to laugh for a few minutes, too stunned to do anything.

After he was done, he stood up and dusted himself off.

"What just happened?" Sakura asked blinking a few times, as if trying to wake herself up. He just chuckled a little.

"I just played a little joke joke on you all, it was utterly magnificent." He responded laughing again. Every one of their jaws dropped.

Sasuke was the first to recover, his anger rapidly rising. "So let me get this straight. You think that it's ok to pull something like…this, and it is what? Justified?." He hissed out in fury.

The joker in question gave a half grin at Kiba, who

Was still in shock. "If their being assholes, then yes." He finished with a shrug, and a chuckle.

Sasuke roared in anger and attacked him with his sword, sharingan blazing. Ryuu didn't even bother to defend himself. Instead, none other than Kakashi Hatake himself intercepted the attack right before it decapitated him.

He gave his trademark eye smile, "that's enough Sasuke, you were never in any real danger. It's over, kindly stand down." Sasuke just growled.

"Oh get out of my way!" Sasuke yelled as he pushed passed Kakashi.

Surprisingly, Kakashi just let him past. Sasuke tried to stab Ryuu, but he simply appeared to bat the sword away with his bare hand. Then, even though Sasuke could see it coming with his sharingan, he still couldn't get his body to keep up, he grabbed Sasuke's wrist, did a joint manipulation move that put him in a defenseless position, and proceeded to do a few quick and powerful jabs. Two to Sasuke's stomach, one in the solar plexus, and one in the face. He then grabbed Sasuke's other arm and did a different joint manipulation move, Ryuu jumped in the air and kind of spun to build momentum for the spinning back kick that hit Sasuke hard enough to send him flying back, and coughing up blood.

Then it hit them all, killing intent so potent, so controlled, made of pure controlled fury, it was suffocating. Even Kakashi looked like he was affected by it, and that was saying something.

'My god. So this is the true Demon of Butcher Bay. He is the real deal, the kind of person who really could kill us all.' Shikamaru thought, those same thoughts being shared by everyone else as well.

**XXXXXXXXXX**

After that was over, and the Demon 'released' them, Kakashi explained what had happened while Ryuu just sat down and calmly ate lunch. Needless to say, they weren't really sure what to think. Even the ones who were pissed, like Sasuke and Neji, couldn't do anything about it. Whether they liked it or not, the Hokage had his back. Even Sasuke was not foolish enough to openly disrespect the Hokage like that.

It only took a short time for Kakashi to explain what was to become of him; he had to refer to all of Ryuu as the 'Demon', as this didn't insult Ryuu at all. The reason being was that Ryuu had felt that they had not yet earned the right. With the exception of Hinata, none of them were friends, and that title meant a lot more to Ryuu than any of them.

After all was said and done, they all left after only a short time, until eventually only Hinata, Shikamaru and Kakashi remained. Though Hinata would have stayed anyway, Kakashi had asked her to stay anyway. But Shikamaru was a different matter, he had questions.

"If I may, are you a Nara?" Shikamaru asked in a sincere tone. "If you are, how is it that I have never heard of you?" Ryuu just chuckled a little.

"I am not a Nara by birth, though I was trained by one. That story however, I feel is none of your business. Maybe. No offence intended, but I do not know you. I did meet your father, and I trust him to an extent. I know he is an honorable man, and I do trust his judgment. Ask him, and if he deems you worthy, he has my permission to tell you." Ryuu said in a sympathetic tone.

Shikamaru just nodded in understanding.

"You don't have to answer it, but I would ask one more question." Ryuu nodded as if to give him the ok. "Is it possible to learn those abilities?" Shikamaru asked, unable to hide the slight amount of jealously in his voice.

"No, it is not, not without my permission." Shikamaru nodded acceptance before leaving.

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

"Hinata, if I may, I have news for both of you." Kakashi said in a serious tone as Hinata was about to confront Naruto. They both just looked at him curiously.

Kakashi just sighed. "Alright first of all I need to tell you Ryuu that Danzo has added more conditions that have already been agreed to." Kakashi said with a wince as he saw the look of disgust on Ryuu's face. Not because he used his name, as he had already told Hinata that.

"I take it that this involves me?" Hinata asked with a slightly unfamiliar tone. Kakashi just nodded.

"First, let me ask you Ryuu, do you plan on leaving the village?" Kakashi asked, already knowing the answer. Ryuu just nodded, not liking where this was going. "Ok, well I've never been one to drag things out so let me just put it out there. Hinata, you will leave with Ryuu, and stay with him wherever he goes."

The two teenagers just stared at Kakashi in shock. After Ryuu blinked a bit, he looked over at Hinata. Whatever else he was, he was still a teenager. So, despite his best efforts, his eyes still strayed over to stare at Hinata's tits. After a nose bleed, Kakashi girlishly giggled a little. A few seconds later, Hinata caught on and kicked him in the sack. While he doubled over in agony and started coughing, Hinata glared at Kakashi. Kakashi paled.

After a glance at Ryuu, Hinata realized that it was just a reaction, and that she really didn't mind all that much if it was Ryuu. She blushed, then sighed and turned her attention over to Kakashi.

"I don't suppose that I have any choice in this?" Hinata asked, uncertain of whether or not she actually wanted one. After a moment to collect himself, Kakashi got serious again.

"Considering that it was Danzo that put forward the _'request'_, probably not." Kakashi said in an all business tone. Hinata understood completely, she knew who Danzo was. But that also meant that she was going to be drawing his attention now as she was probably a big part of whatever plan he was thinking of. That could only mean bad things for her.

By now Ryuu had recovered and was curious as well. "I met Hinata's father. He's a dick, why would he ever agree to this?" he asked with genuine curiosity. Hinata seemed to agree, and was curious herself.

Kakashi understood this, but also could see the underlying question in this. Just how much was Hiashi involved in Danzo's plot. In true Kakashi fasion, he got strait to the point.

"My honest opinion, I think Hiashi is just using this as an excuse to both get rid of, and decare you unfit to be the heir, for whatever reason. I have a feeling that Hiashi will make up some bullshit excuse that I think almost no will believe anyway." Kakashi finished with a shrug. Ryuu just raised an eyebrow. Kakashi saying that like the way he did was kind of a big deal. He more or less openly serverly criticized a clan head, and said it in _his _presence. Though Kakashi could be protected by his reputation, this was still a big risk.

'Why would he risk that?' Ryuu thought to himself.

"I could care less what they all think of me anyway." Hinata responded with a shrug. "Besides, I'm happy that I'm no longer the heir to the Hyuga clan, I could care less about it. Let that bitch of a sister be miserable."

Then, she looked back at Ryuu, and she almost took a step back. It was very clear what on his mind, he was considering either leaving her to die somewhere, or just killing her outright. The reason was very clear, Hinata would slow him down and be a liability, no matter how hard she tried.

Inside Ryuu's mind, both she and Kakashi were dead on. 'What should I do? She _will_ slow me down. With how many people that are probably after me for whatever reason that they come up with, not to mention Danzo, she's probably going to get me killed! Riddick would just leave her to die somewhere, perhaps in the middle of the desert on the way to Suna?'

At that thought, Ryuu stopped. Though he sometimes wanted to be Riddick, as he often reminded himself, he was _no_ Riddick. Besides, Daichi would be disappointed in him, wherever he was. That just sealed the deal. Not only that, but she seemed to honestly understand him and he enjoyed her company. That, and she was hot.

"If you would rather I just guide you to somewhere so you can start over, I can do that. But if you decide otherwise, I am fine with that. Either way, I will not abandon you." Ryuu finished with iron in his voice. Hinata was not able to hold back a sigh of relief. After that, she just nodded.

Kakashi also nodded, happy with the way things turned out. "Alright, now I have something to tell you Ryuu, something personal." Kakashi said with a hint of pain. "But first, is it ok if I reveal your heritage to Hinata?" Ryuu took a good glance at Hinata and nodded.

Kakashi took a deep breath and kneeled at Ryuu's feet, that was something that he would never expect. This was the famed copy nin, a man that was deemed an elite Jonin. While not quite S class, he was damn close. And he was kneeling before him.

While kneeling, Kakashi explained his relationship to Ryuu's father, and his first reaction to Ryuu when he was born. Kakashi just told him everything, and layed out everything that he was, and then he was silent. He stayed that way for some time as Ryuu processed it all.

After what seemed like an eternity, Ryuu laid his hand on his head, indicating that he was forgiven. Kakashi almost cried.

"I want you to know, that I am loyal to Konoha, but I am more loyal to you. I was your father's student, and the debt that I owe him and my teammates can never truly be replayed. I just want you to know, that I am you man forever. If you ever want or need my services, I will die for you." Kakashi said with as much sincerity as he could summon. Ryuu believed him. This was Kakashi Hatake, and from what he knew of him, he was an honorable man. Therefore, his word was real.

It took a few minutes for them all to get settled, Hinata to get over her shock as she was coming to terms that she was going to be traveling with the son of the man who was quite possibly the most powerful shinobi to ever live.

After that, Kakashi explained that he had volunteered to come here to put the seals on Hinata that would guarantee that her eyes would never be stolen. She had no complaints. By now, the idea of leaving this place was sounding better and better. Especially if it was with him. And clearly, he was thinking something along the same lines. Truth be told, she was slightly disappointed. He was not the first guy to be interested in her body, but then again, he was a guy. Besides, if he wasn't interested, that could only mean something much worse.

"So, what now?" Ryuu asked in a serious voice, all business once again.

Kakashi just shrugged. "Well I suppose that the announcement that you are forgiven needs to happen, that will take place tomorrow by the way. And after that, I suppose that you are free to leave when you see fit." They nodded. Being honest, Hinata could not wait to leave this place. Though she realized that she may miss her sensei, and even her teammates, it would not stop her.

While Hinata had never hidden anything, which meant that she was obviously mostly empty inside. Even still, they never really gave up on her. But like she already decided, that would not stop her.

After that Kakashi got to work on the seals for Hinata's eyes.

The entire procedure took about a half hour. Hinata had passed out from pain ten minutes into it. Naruto had to carry her all the way back to the village, or at least almost all the way back. He had no desire to spend even a single night in the place where the people had howled for his blood as an infant. Instead, he chose to sleep in the outskirts of the village in the forest. He summoned a few lesser hellhounds to guard them while they slept, and when he was sure of there efficiency, he lay down and slept. Though before sleep claimed him, he couldn't help but stare at Hinata's face, for whatever reason, she was just that alluring.

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

The announcement, was met with different reactions. Though surprisingly, those that were opposed to it got over it quickly. The main reasons being that whoever this guy was, he wasn't going to be staying in the village, and no matter what else happened, it wouldn't affect them in the least. No civilians' daily life would be affected. So with that in mind, the whole thing was clearly going to be mostly forgotten in a matter of a few weeks.

As for the news about Hinata going with Ryuu, or the mystery demon as the local shinobi started to call him, this was taken surprisingly well. Because of Hinata's reclusive nature, most had to be reminded of who she was to begin with. And the few that did actually know her completely understood the benefits of such an experience. This was only of course her teammates. Even Kiba, with as much fear and hate he had towards Ryuu, could see that this was a blessing in disguise for Hinata. While none of them trusted Ryuu, Kurenai assured them that she had personally talked with the entire council, and they trusted him at least that much. That was good enough for them.

Besides, none of them could see the two of them getting any closer than friends anyway. I mean, why would anyone want to get involved with a psychopath? Because that's what he was, wasn't he? Shino had doubts about that, his and Shikamaru's theory was simply that Ryuu was more or less socially retarded and really didn't know any better. Kurenai on the other hand, knew exactly who and what Ryuu was. If he was even half the man his father was, as the council seemed to believe, than Hinata was in good hands.

As for Ryuu and Hinata, their relationship was a little strained at the moment. While Hinata was now ok with the idea of leaving with him, that did not change the fact that he had lied to her that night they spent together. For some reason, that strangely hurt her. It took a little bit of prying from Ryuu, but he eventually got her to tell him what was bothering her. Surprisingly for Hinata, he actually winced when she told him.

He saw no reason to lie to her, so he told her mostly the truth behind his reasons. While he admitted to using her as a sort of alibi in an attempt to mislead the council, he did apologize and fill in some of the gaps and tell her what he had lied about. Of course, he didn't tell her everything. He left out the part about him being a jinchurriki, and the container of the Kyubi to boot, he wasn't quite ready to tell her about that yet. Besides, the less people that knew a secret, the less likely it was to get out. As far as Ryuu was concerned, she was on a need to know basis for the moment.

No need to risk anything at the moment. After all, how much did he really know her? For all he knew, she could really be just all talk. Maybe later, maybe when they had been through a few close calls, maybe he could at least trust her that much. If he was going to be totally open, he needed more than just a regular friendship. And as far as he could tell, close bonds were hard to make, easy to break, easy to lose, and could strike a crippling blow if lost. So the question he had to ask himself was, was it worth it? Was it worth the risk? Daichi thought so, so with that, he would give it a shot.

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

It was time, they were finally leaving. The ceremony was over with, and the most Ryuu was getting was strange looks from the civilians. It was a much better reaction than he ever expected from them. But even so, it was not enough. They had wanted him dead, and he was sparing their lives. As far as he was concerned, this was no village of his. He had no obligation to it than what he was bound to it by seals. One day, he would be free of even those, he knew. It might take years, but he would have his freedom. And then, perhaps, he could go out and seek happiness.

There were only five of them at the gates to see them off. Hinata's father didn't come; Ryuu had the feeling that he wasn't missed by anyone there. He did recognize all there except one. There were Hinata's teammates, Kakashi Hatake, the Hokage himself, and a woman with red eyes and a nice figure. This was only confusing for a moment. By the way she was looking at Hinata, and eyeing him, it was clear she was Hinata's sensei. Ryuu was not about to bow down to anyone, was not about to start making promises to her so she could have some sort of sense of self security or something like that. If she wanted to dislike, distrust, or even hate him, that was fine with him. Besides, as much as he liked Hinata, if she got herself killed, that would be her own fault. There was no room for weakness out in the real world.

"Well, I guess this is it, stay safe Hinata." Kurenai said, glancing over at Ryuu who was just standing slightly aside, about to approach Kakashi and the Hokage. "Whatever you do and see out there, please don't forget about us." Kurenai asked with a little sadness in her voice.

Hinata just shrugged with a sad smile, Kurenai had always been nice to her. "I won't, I just want to let you know, I now realize what you mean to me. I suppose it goes along with that old saying that you don't know what you have, until you lose it. I wish that I had gotten to know you better." Hinata said with a sad smile. Kurenai, while a little surprised at the amount of emotion that Hinata was displaying, was not shocked. She knew that as soon as she knew she was leaving, and would be able to avoid her fate here, she would start to liven up some.

Ryuu was having a somewhat awkward conversation with the Hokage, and Kakashi. While they were only discussing his plans for the moment, there was an underlining conversation under it. What they were really asking him about were his plans for the future, and if they could help in any way. While Ryuu knew that it was probably mostly out of guilt, he didn't really care at the moment. As long as they didn't pity him, he was ok with it. Over the year on the outside, and by what he had been taught by Daichi, he had learned to not be ashamed to ask for help, and to take it when offered. And considering that this was being offered help by both the God of shinobi, and the copy nin Kakashi, who was one of the most famous elite Jonin in the history of the leaf, this was some serious help.

Ryuu knew, as good as he was, he was no match for Kakashi, and he didn't even compare to the third, not yet anyway. Because the ideals of Konoha, it had produced some of the strongest shinobi in the world over the years. Kakashi was one such shinobi.

The Hokage offered him wisdom on the various customs and such villages, which areas he would advise to avoid, who might still be after him as there was still a significant bounty on his head, especially as the news that he was the Demon of Butcher Bay that had escaped. In addition to this, he also had a pair of custom Ulak blades that had been customized to his needs. These ones including notches in the part of the blade that covered the knuckles. This way they could catch a blade, saw through flesh, and be used for other various creative means. They were made of quality top of the line steel that could also channel both chakra, and element chakra. In his case, wind, perfect. He was a long way from mastering that though. The Hokage promised him that as long as he took care of them, they would last as long as he would. Assuming that they didn't break from some kind of extreme force. Ryuu was truly grateful for these.

In addition to this, he also gave Ryuu back his armor that had also been customized and left room for him to further make adjustments too. There were various slots to put knives and scrolls. It was the definition of tactical. He also gave Ryuu a cloak that was opened in the front, but could be closed up to offer more protection from the elements. It also came with a deep hood that could cover and hide his entire face, not that he needed it to be deep, his shadows to take care of that. Hinata was also given one, though there were no other things for her.

Kakashi gave him a scroll full of various jutsus that he thought would suit Ryuu. By now, Ryuu felt he had enough respect for Kakashi that he was comfortable with Kakashi using his name. Especially after what he had promised Ryuu. He didn't know if the Hokage knew about it, but he doubted it. A person in Kakashi's position couldn't exactly let his supreme commander know that he would be loyal to someone else before him. So Ryuu kept his mouth shut. Kakashi seemed relieved.

When almost all the goodbyes were done, and Ryuu finished his adjustments, at least for the moment, they were interrupted. Because they were right in front of the main gates to the village, they could see everyone coming in, though it was painfully obvious that these men and woman were not trying to hide.

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

Toombs was not exactly a smart man, but he knew enough to know vengeance very well. He knew, after he heard that the Demon of Butcher Bay was forgiven, that there was no where he could go where he wouldn't find him. It might have been a week, or a year. Maybe ten, but eventually he would find him, and he would kill him. As far as he could tell, preempted attack was his only real option. He needed him dead, and soon. He needed every advantage that he could get. That included having decent and numerous back up, and at least some control of the environment, and striking before he could get any stronger.

He admitted, this was a little early. He expected the actual confrontation to be later, but this was fine. As far as he could tell his only problem was the Hokage, though that was admittedly a potential lethal problem, he wasn't all that worried about it. He knew, the Demon would want to kill him himself. He would want to do it alone, probably. He was right, as soon as he saw him, he made a simple gesture that was obvious. He wanted no interference. That was just perfect. But like all plans, no plan is ever perfect, or full proof.

What he hadn't expected was for the Hokage to limit almost all but the most basic jutsus. His reasoning being that he didn't want any collateral damage to the village. While it was a legitimate concern, it was obvious that it was not the only reason. Any Chunin worth his salt could tell that all of the ten men and woman that he had brought with him, were only special Jonin, and not full Jonin. To be honest, it was all that he could afford, if he wanted to make a decent profit that is.

While they were still Jonin, they all specialized in some sort of jutsu or techniques that were almost exclusive to elements. That meant that almost all, if not all in general, jutsus were no longer aloud so to say. If the Hokage or the copy nin got involved, they were all dead. So, this was going to more or less be a strait Tiajutsu and knife fight. Unfortunately, he knew from experience that the Demon was very, very good with knives, especially those Ulaks that he now had strapped to the front of his torso. They were sheathed in front of his ribs, handles and points facing outwards, making a quick draw very easy for someone like him.

Even still, the odds were still in his favor. Or so he thought. And it's not like it really mattered, there was no way Ryuu was just going to let him walk away.

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

Ryuu couldn't help but let out a sinister and wicked grin. His first order of business had been to hunt this bastard down. As it turned out, he came to him, it saved him a lot of trouble. On top of that, the Hokage had leveled the playing field for him. No matter how pissed at Toombs he was, Ryuu was going to have a lot fun with this. And, he got to break in his new gear, it was almost perfect.

Everyone else backed away, Hinata stayed by his side. He was grateful for that, but his was his fight. So, he unbuckled his cloak, and handed it to her with a thankful smile, one that she returned. It had only been a minute or so, but no one had said a word, none needed to be said. By now, a small crowd of civilians had actually started to gather. They knew a real fight was about to go down.

Ryuu's face hardened. A very different aura started to radiate off of him. He was serious, and they knew it. In response they all drew their various weapons got into stances. Ryuu calmly drew two regular kunai with each hand. It was only a few moments, but a lot still happened. Both sides were sizing up the other, and then Ryuu made the first move, rushing the one closest to him.

Ryuu had the blade in his left and in a reverse grip, so when he got in close and ducked the first ones first slash, and ducked under his guard, it put it in the perfect position to deeply cut through his stomach and ribs. Out of the corner of his eye, Ryuu saw a fountain of blood half gush, and half spray out. He could only assume, with how deeply he had cut him, he had disemboweled the man.

The second one was right behind the first one. She was predictable, he blocked her stab with her katana, used his right hand and arm to keep her arm extended while his left with the reverse griped kunai went under the blade and buried in her chest cavity, piercing her heart.

The next was trying to rush him from behind, Ryuu simply threw his kunai in his right hand and aimed for the center of his forehead, his aim was dead on. Ryuu threw it so hard that it split the guys head open like a canoe, spilling out brain matter all over the ground.

The next one got a clean slice on Ryuu's right triceps, then Ryuu ducked under his next swipe, grabbed and twisted his right wrist, pinning his arm behind him. Ryuu used him as a temporary human shield while he stabbed him in his left kidney twice from behind. Causing blood to immediately spread out and stain his shirt with dark black blood. _'Four down, six to go.' _Were Ryuu's thoughts.

This time two of them rushed at Ryuu at once. He could tell he was getting to them by now, he could smell the fear on them. Ryuu engaged in some quick exchanges of knife on knife. Ryuu actually had to abandon the kunai in his right hand, drawing one of his Ulaks. He acted fast, pinning the first ones arm to her side by impaling it, the blade going through the arm, and then going into her side, while his other knife went into her eye piercing her brain. Ryuu spun around, ducking as he did. Ryuu did a strait stab with his kunai that went right into the guy's liver. Ryuu brought Ulak around and cleanly slit his throat. Just like the first one, because Ryuu had cut so deep, blood blossomed out in a thick dark spray.

The next one was one him almost immediately. Ryuu used the notched edge of his Ulak to catch the guys short sword, used a joint manipulation lock to get in close, and put his kunai under the special Jonin's chin, and stabbed up. Ryuu thought it was pretty cool when he could see the kunai inside the guy's mouth, which is before his mouth filled up and overflowed with blood. Ryuu just left that kunai in his head.

The last three were hesitant to attack. It was understandable; Ryuu had just killed seven special Jonin's in under fifteen seconds. But they decided to attack all at once.

The first ones weapon of choice happened to be a meat cleaver. Ryuu's right Ulak met his wrist as he did a simple one handed slash, effectively cutting off his hand. Ryuu quite literally ran up his body, and twisted in mid air, kicking another one away and slicing at the recently dismembered ninja. His left Ulak acted like a scythe. It entered the back of his neck, and kept going. From half way into his neck, everything behind it was cleanly cut through, turning him into a sort of reverse pezz candy dispenser, blood spraying out of the back of his neck, covering Ryuu's back.

The last was so scared, he hesitated, giving Ryuu a clean shot. Ryuu crossed his arms, and charged. A point entered both sides of his neck, both points exiting the other side, blood already pouring out of the wounds. With two quick jerks, Ryuu broke his neck. After that, just for good measure, Ryuu spun around and stabbed him in his back, hitting the sweat spot. Left of the spine, fourth lumbar down, the aortic artery. Even the jugular vein didn't spray out as much blood as this.

When Ryuu looked over to where Toombs was, he was gone. Ryuu knew that there was no use in chasing him, he was gone. That was fine, he would get him, eventually. Ryuu looked over at his audience. They all looked at him with a mixture of awe, fear, and even a little bit of admiration.

_**I think that that was the best fight scene that I have ever written. Review and let me know what you think. Next time, Ryuu meets Jiraiya. **_


	8. Chapter 8

**The Demon of Butcher Bay: Ch 8**

Ryuu leveled his hard, cold gaze at everyone. His eyes glowing with an utterly sinister gaze. As much as he wanted to hide it, he was enjoying every fear filled look he got. Strangely though, Kakashi and the Hokage seemed immune to it. Not that that was much of a shock, but they seemed to accept it, to apparently expect it. Perhaps even be ok with the death in front of him.

It was then that Ryuu realized that the one he had disemboweled was still alive. Using chakra to limit his blood loss, he was clinging on to life. Even though it was obvious that he was going to die, Ryuu couldn't help but respect him a little. He knew he was going to die; even still he was clinging on to life for as long as he could. It was the same thing he would have done in his position.

Ryuu approached the moaning man with a cold look. Though if you looked closely enough you could tell that there was a slightly bemused expression there as well. The man was just lying on the ground curled up, holding his insides as closely to him as he could. As he heard Ryuu approach, he looked up with a look full of venom.

Ryuu studied him a moment. "You look familiar, have we met before?" he asked, honestly curious, he was sure he had seen him before somewhere. The man just scowled and shook his head.

"No, not me anyway. You did murder my twin brother you fucking psychopath." He spat out with hate in his voice. Though it was now strained, he didn't have long to live, as he was in obvious agony.

Ryuu just thought for a moment. And then it dawned upon him. He remembered the man's brother clearly now. He had indeed killed him a few months ago. As it was, he just shrugged.

"Your brother was an asshole and pathetic excuse for a human and you know it." Then Ryuu thought about for a moment and shrugged again. "Then again, that might have just been some other asshole I killed and just forgot about." The man just renewed his glare towards him. Ryuu had the sudden image and urge to step on and crush his skull. But he would not give in to his dark urges.

It was clear that he was near death. Despite his best efforts he was losing a lot of blood, and there was now a thick pool of it around him. Not to mention that half of his insides were now spilled out and covering the ground as he no longer had the strength to hold all of himself to himself.

With the last of his strength the man put as much hate in his voice as he could. "You're going to hell."

Ryuu just smirked. "Not before you." and with a final look of hatred, the special Jonin let out a death rattle and died. Even with Ryuu being as hard as he was, he felt for the guy in a way. He didn't care that he killed him, he didn't care that he killed his brother. More than likely they were together now anyway, waiting for him. While he didn't show it, his facial expression didn't change at all actually, Ryuu thought it sad that no one would remember him. That no one knew his name, and those that did, would soon forget it anyway. For him, that was a great dishonor in a fasion. A sign of disgrace among the hellhounds. For no one to remember or speak your name again, meant that you weren't worthy of anything. Even the weakest of hellhounds that died were remembered, as longed as they proved themselves. No one would morn this man.

After a moment, Ryuu dismissed it and looked back at everyone watching him. It was done, his mask was now gone. Even though he hadn't needed it, he had been wearing a mask anyway. Hiding his true nature from everyone, or at least trying to. If only to lower everyone's guard, there was no reason to keep it up anymore though, it was clear what he was now. However, from the looks he was getting from Kakashi and the Hokage it was clear that they had never been fooled.

Hinata on the other hand shared the same look that everyone else had, fear. They all knew what he was, or at least assumed they knew. Even still, none of them had actually seen it. And now here he was in all his bloody glory. Standing tall, covered in blood, eyes literately glowing with a sinister edge. He wasn't trying to hide his aura anymore, nor was he holding back the regular killing intent that still radiated off of him. Through his bloodline, bloodlust coursed through his veins, demanding the death of others.

With a considerable amount of effort, he contained and controlled it. Now, he just stood there, calm and serene, eyes only shining and reflecting light rather than actually glowing. This in turn only furthered the terror in those that were still in awe of him. For all but the very well experienced, none of them had ever seen anyone like him before. Never before been the presence of a killer like him. Now, his image would be seared in their memories, there forever.

As he calmed down, Ryuu met Kakashi's and the Hokage's gazes with a slightly amused expression.

"I never had either of you fooled, did I?" Ryuu asked in a whimsical tone. They both actually smirked at this. They had both known his father very well. And just like his father, Ryuu didn't like playing politics of any kind for that long. Everything was just easier and simpler if everything was in the open. At least for them, as they were both strong enough, physically and mentally, to deal with the backlash and consequences.

With a shake of his head, Sarutobi responded with a relieved voice. It was nice to not worry about being diplomatic for once and just say what was on his mind.

"No, not even for a second. Like I said before, you're a survivor, not a samurai. While I know you will keep your word, you're not about to die for it. At least not for something so small that you don't really believe in." he finished with a shrug.

Kakashi just sighed. "Me neither. I knew, and have always known what you are. While I don't know who you are, I knew all along." Kakashi finished with a slight look of meaning in his eye. Ryuu understood, and felt his respect for the man increase a little.

He knew what he was doing when he gave his word, knew exactly what he was doing. And despite knowing that Ryuu may indeed seek revenge on Konoha's council, he did it anyway.

After a moment, Ryuu took at everybody else, especially Hinata. Hinata's sensei, Kurenai, was now over the shock. She was an elite Jonin, and from what he had learned, the Genjutsu mistress of Konoha. She was powerful, and experienced. While he had her fooled, he could tell that she suspected, and therefore was on guard for him anyway. She had met his kind before, and she now knew what she was dealing with.

Even if he had the Kyubi at his disposal, he doubted that he could take her. He may be able to hold his own for a while, but he doubted he could win. She had years of experience on her side, and that wasn't even taking into account her own abilities. If she decided to go missing nin, she would probably rank low S class. While Ryuu knew he was powerful, he would probably only rank high A class right now. And there was a respectable gab between the two ranks. Even with all his strength, he was still a kid.

Looking over at Hinata's teammates, they were not over it. The Inuzuka runt was slack jawed, and trembling. His worst fears were confirmed that the nightmare that had happened truly was real. It was now abundantly clear that Ryuu could take him out easily, at least in his mind.

However, in fact it wouldn't quite be so easy. In reality, Ryuu wouldn't be able to go easy on him and still win. He would have to get somewhat serious, but he still was in a different league than him.

The other one, who smelled of insects, was more reserved. But Ryuu could sense his uneasiness. It was a skill learned subconsciously from a lifetime of living in an environment where weakness instantly got you killed. An almost sixth sense that enabled one to instantly _feel_ the weakness of being nervous, or afraid. And right now, even though it wasn't visible, Ryuu could literally smell the fear off of him. He didn't even need to _feel_ it.

There was one more person there that Ryuu was not expecting to see, Shikaku Nara himself had come to see him off, and it looked like he had brought his son along with him. After looking at them for a moment, he could tell that they had seen the fight, or rather massacre. That was fine with him. With a deep breath, Shikaku nodded to him and silently asked to speak with him. With a nod to the Hokage, Ryuu walked over to him.

"That was very impressive." Shikaku started off with a slight smirk that Ryuu returned.

"Thank you, I try." Ryuu said with a tone of amusement. The Nara kid just sighed and mumbled something. With that Shikaku cleared his throat.

"Well, the reason I came to see you was to give you a gift, and to give you some assurances." Shikaku said gravely. Ryuu just raised his eyebrow at this; he was not expecting something like this. After a moment, Shikaku took out a somewhat big scroll and offered it to Ryuu.

"In this scroll are the jutsus and techniques of the Nara clan. While most of them pale in comparison to what it must have been like to study under Daichi, there have been advances and modifications since his time. If nothing else, they should offer plenty of inspiration for you to modify into your own '_style'_."

Ryuu didn't even try to hide his shock. This was a big move, and a dangerous one at that. He knew that Ryuu may or may not one day decide to come after him, and still he was offering him this. This would only serve to make him just that much more dangerous, and therefore that much more likely to succeed if he did chose to go after the council. That didn't even go into the fact that these were sealed and protected techniques of the Nara clan. Secrets that should never be disclosed to anyone.

"In addition to this, I want to give you my word that Daichi will not be forgotten. His name will be remembered and held in our clan history for as long as we exist. While his story will be that of a warning, his acknowledgment that he saw the error of his ways will not be forgotten, and it is a fact that he is forgiven for his foolishness in his youth, as well as our mistake to forget him and his loyalty, and his genius. His name will be held with respect, and honor." That hit Ryuu the hardest. In fact, it almost made him cry, it was the most and best gift he could possibly receive.

With a shaking hand, he reached out and accepted the scroll. "Thank you; I accept your gift, and the apology of the Nara clan on his behalf." Ryuu said weakly. Shikaku nodded, all was now said that needed to be said. However, the Nara's son apparently wanted a word with him alone. With a final nod, Shikaku left the two alone.

With a deep breath, the Nara started first. "First of all, I was hoping that you would give me your name if I gave you mine." He said with all seriousness. While Ryuu was sure that he probably thought all of this was ridiculous, he was glad that he at least respected him enough to humor him. With a nod, Ryuu started.

"I am Ryuu Nara, son of Daichi Nara," With a moment's hesitation, he also added, "my true name however is Naruto Uzumaki."

"My name is Shikamaru Nara, son of Shikaku Nara, and heir to the Nara clan." He said with a slight bow. Ryuu nodded in return. Finally, it was time to get to the actual conversation. However, Shikamaru found to his relief that he actually enjoyed the small ancient formality. It made him feel…respected and honored in a way. He now under no illusion as to who he was talking too. While he wasn't aware of the Kyubi, he now knew mostly what Ryuu was capable of. Add that to the new knowledge he had learned of Daichi, and that added up to Ryuu being someone to both be feared, and respected.

"Anyway, I was hoping that someday you would be willing to teach me some of the things you know. I know you can't teach me most of your skills, but I would be very grateful if you could show me some of the techniques that you come up with that I can use. That is, if our paths ever cross again." Shikamaru said without breaking eye contact.

Ryuu's eyes flashed and glowed briefly and Shikamaru got kind of dazed for a few seconds. After a moment, Ryuu made his decision.

"Ok, if our paths ever cross again, and it's convenient, I'll show you some things that you're unlikely to discover on your own." Ryuu said in a serious tone. Shikamaru nodded again and left, nothing else needed to be said.

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX **

After all that, Ryuu finally turned his attention back to Hinata.

Hinata, was scared, he did need to _feel_ that. She wasn't reeking of fear like the others around, but it was definitely there. However, for the most part, she was more in awe of him than anything else at the moment. While she was afraid, it was probably more on an instinctual level than anything else, at least for the moment. Later on, when she had time to process everything, she would remember everything said, and what it meant.

While she would believe that Ryuu wouldn't kill her if she was slowing him down, that didn't mean that he wouldn't leave her behind if she fell behind. Like the Hokage said, Ryuu was a survivor. And while it was clear that he liked her in a way, he didn't really care for her. She wasn't worth dying for, not yet anyway. So until he made up his mind about her, she was ultimately expendable, just a tag along.

Ryuu just looked at her for a moment before coming back to reality. "Hinata, were leaving in a moment. Say your last goodbyes, and lets go." With that, Hinata was shocked back into reality. Ryuu went for some final words in private with the Hokage and Kakashi while Hinata did the same with her team.

With Ryuu, "So, is there anything else I should know before I leave. Or rather, anything else you want to say to me? You do realize that most likely I will never return here, so that means that we will most likely not meet again." Ryuu said to the aged Hokage. He did not however direct his words towards Kakashi. They both knew that sooner or later, their paths would cross again. To Ryuu's surprise, the old man did have something to say beyond the obvious.

"Yes, you should expect a visitor in the next couple of days. Your father's sensei, Jiraiya of the Sannin wants to speak with you. And on another note, I also asked something of him that he agrees with." Sarutobi sighed after a moment. "Obviously, Danzo will try something eventually. And unless you are a couple steps ahead of him, he will probably succeed in whatever it is he is pursuing. He will make sure that the odds are indeed in his favor. And he is not foolish enough to wait until you are powerful enough to pose a very real threat."

Ryuu just sighed as well. He knew all of this, and unfortunately, there was very little he could do about it. The seals were beyond him, and he knew of no one that would be able to even tweak them a little in his favor. With all of this, there was no way for him to escape him, not yet anyway. However, the Hokage bringing this up suggested that he was going to do something about it, and that Jiraiya himself was going to help. That was either very good news, or very bad. Though he had the feeling that it was all good, the Hokage owed him, they all knew it, and he truly wanted to help Ryuu in any way he could. For now, that was enough to buy a little bit of Ryuu's trust, and a fare amount of respect.

"On another note, I again want to express how sorry I truly am. For whatever its worth, I am sorry for my failing you, and your father." With a sigh, he added in a dry tone. "In fact, I expect to have quite an, _interesting_ conversation with him after I pass on."

"Anyway, you are most likely correct. My duties prevent me from leaving, and I am an old man. And even if I could leave, there isn't a whole lot more I can do to make it up to you. All I can do now is promise to help you in the future should you want my help. Of course, I won't be able to do this if it is against the village, but all the same I will try." Ryuu nodded, accepting and understanding this.

With a sigh, Ryuu responded. "I understand, I have thought a lot about it and have come to a decision. While this village is not forgiven, you are in my eyes. perhaps one day I will return and see you before you pass on, but until then this is likely the last we will see of each other." Sarutobi bowed slightly, truly happy for the first time in a long time.

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

With Hinata, things were going a little different. Her teammates weren't saying all that much. While they were afraid and still a little dazed and humbled, they had already said pretty much everything that they needed to say. Kurenai however, had something to say that Hinata wouldn't have expected, actually, it was the last thing any of them expected her to do. She defended Ryuu.

"Hinata, just remember. While everything about the risks is real, as in he is a survivor, he is more than he seems. He does like you; he gave you his name after all. Just get to know him better and in time, he will lighten up and become more open." Kurenai said looking straight into Hinata's eyes, trying to make sure that Hinata would remember her words.

And with that, Ryuu made a subtle signal, and they left. Not running, or even at a jogging pace, they simply walked away down the road out of Konoha. It would be a long time before its walls ever again saw them.

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

It had been almost three days and still nothing. While Ryuu wasn't particularly waiting on his toes, he still just wanted to get it over with. Ryuu wasn't particularly familiar with the Sannin, but after a few questions and a conversation on the topic with Hinata, Ryuu couldn't help but be nervous. More or less, a Kage level ninja was planning on meeting them, and a meeting like that could only end up going very well, or very badly.

At night, Ryuu studied the scrolls and such that were given to him, and toyed and experimented with them. Like Shikaku had said, they were also a big source of inspiration. There were some techniques that he didn't know, and he first went on to study and master them. They were easy for him and it only took a few hours to get one down.

After that, he started taking them to the next level and improving them in a way that the regular Nara's could never do, most probably never even dreamed of. An example being improving on a technique that was already well known to him, but was more powerful. The regular jutsu not only trapped, but covered the victim entirely in shadow. More or less using their own shadow to creep up and cover their entire body. The effect was that it was no longer necessary to have a connection with their shadow, they were immobile for as long as the user's chakra lasted.

While the jutsu did require a lot of chakra, that was no problem for Ryuu, he had a seemingly endless supply of it. However it was limited now that the fox's chakra was cut off. However Ryuu knew something about that that they hadn't considered. When they sealed off the foxes chakra, they did it directly to the fox and didn't use him as a medium. Because of that, the fox was able to fight back. Eventually the seal would fail and everything would go back to normal.

What Ryuu did was use the jutsu on himself to cover him in his own shadow. This had unbelievable results. While he was in this form, he was more or less invincible. He was a shadow solidified. Cut off an arm and it would grow back, cut him in half, and the lower half would turn into a shadow mist and come back to him. Of course the technique was incredibly draining, but with a little more training and such to get the maximum efficiency out of his chakra, he estimated that he would be able to keep it up for about forty-five minutes.

Other than that the rest was pretty much stuff that he already knew, or was irrelevant because of his other abilities.

As far as Hinata and Ryuu went, things were a little tense, more so on Hinata's end though. It took almost a full day for her to sort it all out. That is, get over the whole idea of what Ryuu really was, think over Kurenai's words, and fully come to terms with the fact that it would be a very long time before she ever saw Konoha again, if ever. While she was never exactly happy there, Konoha was still her home, and now it was behind her.

Ryuu felt a little bad about Hinata being a little afraid of him, but there was nothing he could do about it. Besides, she probably should be as it was apparent that she was just along for the ride. If she was at least a little afraid, she would probably live longer. That being said, Hinata was probably taking it a little too far. She talked little, and even when Ryuu started a conversation she let him do most of the talking. This in turn made her a little more nervous as she was afraid that he was getting bored with her company. And even worse, she was right. Hinata hadn't been this nervous since she was little; she had no idea how to deal with all of this. Eventually, Ryuu came up with a solution inadvertently.

"Alright, we better start training, and set up a regular schedule while we're at it. And after wards, we might as well figure out where hell we're going, because if we don't, we're going to end up wandering aimlessly around." Ryuu said while getting up and stretching. Hinata agreed, and she was happy for the distraction. Training sounded like a good way to blow off steam.

"Alright then, if we're going to survive, we need to work on our teamwork. Or at the very least get familiar with each other's fighting styles." Ryuu said looking serious. Hinata agreed with a nod. "Well then, let's start off by sparing."

Suddenly Ryuu got serious. His face settled into the look he had when he killed those special Jonin back in the village. Hinata could not help but be afraid, and doubtful. She believed everyone when it was said that he wouldn't kill her, but there was doubt. Maybe he didn't intend to kill her in cold blood, maybe there was just going to be a training accident.

Out of nowhere Ryuu attacked with a feral growl coming out. Hinata responded with a pure defensive stance, in survival mode. This continued for a minute or two before Ryuu grabbed her wrist and twisted her arm behind her back, and then simply threw her onto the ground.

"What was that? That was pathetic. What happened to the hate, the rage? I know you have it in you, maybe your father was right about you, maybe you weren't worth his love in the first place." Ryuu said with a sneer.

Hinata's rage rose up then, fear all but forgotten. Screaming in rage she attacked him with hate in her eyes. She pushed him back for almost a minute before Ryuu got the better of her again and back handed her hard enough to level her out again.

"Better, but I want fury this time, not rage." Ryuu said in a slightly softer tone. Hinata got a hold of herself and looked at him questionably.

"What's the difference?" she asked with a glare. Ryuu looked at her seriously.

"Rage gives you strength, helps you ignore pain, but it comes at a heavy cost. You lose sight of your objective and you make big mistakes that can easily be taken advantage of." Ryuu recalled Riddick's lesson on the same thing when he taught him. "Fury on the other hand gives you so much more.

"Fury helps you suppress all human emotion, fury will give you strength that you didn't know you had, fury will help you focus, fury will let you control your instincts, and fury will turn you into a killer."

That sounded good to Hinata, she wanted that. "How do I do that, become that?"

"It stems from rage, but it is controlled. Your rage has to be cold, your rage has to be calculated, and you have to want it to be legendary. Only then will you be able to accomplish this."

Hinata took a moment to think, almost meditating. She looked inward, into her memories, and found the source of her hate, her rage. However, she didn't let it consume her; she fought with it, essentially fighting with herself. Finally she was able to attain a small amount of control over it, and she directed it to one goal, one instinct, to kill.

Pure killer intent radiated off of Hinata as she glared at Ryuu with cold fury in her eyes. Ryuu smirked, "That's more like it." And with a feral growl she charged him.

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

Hinata was breathing hard, bloody, and beaten on the ground. Ryuu didn't even need to use his shadow abilities to beat her, and it only took a few minutes. But even still, she could tell the difference in the way she fought. Even now she could feel the power that was lurking beneath the surface, something primal wanting to be let loose.

All in all, it was a good fight. While she was beaten, she did better than she had expected. She expected him to utterly destroy her, to break her right there and then. But he didn't, and it wasn't even that he was holding back, not that much at least. She could tell that he was holding back, but even still she had managed to land some strikes and hurt him. That was much more than she had expected, so she felt proud of herself anyway.

However, she did know just how far behind him she was. He didn't use summons, or his shadow abilities, if he had, it would have been over inside a minute. That was fine though, she didn't expect to ever be his equal in combat.

"I can feel it now, like it wants to be let out." Hinata said softly. Ryuu looked at her and nodded. He understood completely. In a way, his urges were the same thing as that just magnified a hundred fold.

"What you're feeling is bloodlust, plain and simple. Your mind wants to let out the animal inside, to let it out and destroy everything that has made you hurt. It wouldn't be there in the first place if you hadn't been hurt.

"Don't fear it, in time you will come to understand it, control it, and finally truly unleash it." Ryuu said with confidence, it made Hinata feel good for some reason.

They were both startled by clapping coming from an older man with long white hair. It could only be one person, it was Jiraiya. They were both on their feet in a second.

"I'm impressed." He said in a light, but serious tone. Ryuu just nodded while Hinata did a half bow. Ryuu just looked at him for a moment considering trying to enter his mind or whatever it was that he could do.

That was something that he was still trying to figure out. He was also trying to figure out how to bring it up with Hinata to see if she would be willing to let him experiment with the ability. He had asked Byakko about it, but he wasn't able to give him a complete answer. Byakko said that it was something that worked differently for every individual, and had to be self taught.

In fact, he was surprised that Ryuu had developed the ability at all. For the hellhounds, it wasn't uncommon for them to live for a century or more before the ability manifested itself, but that was just the way it was. He also informed him that if he should master it, he would receive a lot of respect among the clan. Though, that was about as much as he either could, or would tell him.

Either way he decided that it would not be the right thing to do on someone like Jiraiya.

"So, my name is Jiraiya, and it's good to finally meet you. I was told that Sarutobi told you everything already so I don't have to explain everything from the beginning." Jiraiya said in a somewhat somber tone.

Ryuu nodded. "Yes, I was told everything by him, or at least everything that he could tell me. I do not presume or had expected to tell me things that were not his secrets to tell. By the way Lord Jiraiya; I am Ryuu Nara, son of Daichi Nara." Jiraiya had to stop himself from flinching, that was not the way it was supposed to be.

"And I am Hinata Hyuga, daughter of Hannah Hyuga." Hinata spoke up, not wanting to be left out despite being somewhat intimidated by the Sannin. Jiraiya nodded to her.

"Before we get into this, perhaps we should make camp, there is a great deal that I need to tell you. A lot of it includes things that Sarutobi could not tell you at the village because he could not know who was listening." Jiraiya said in all seriousness. Ryuu nodded understanding the logic behind this.

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

An hour later they were sitting around a campfire, finally ready to talk and work things out. Jiraiya was the first to talk.

"Well to start off, I was supposed to be your god father, and for whatever its worth, you have my word that I never wanted this to happen. In fact, I wasn't even in the country when the Kyuubi attacked." Jiraiya said in a sad tone, unable to look Ryuu in the eyes. Hinata eyes shot open wide eyed.

Ryuu was surprised to say the least, that was certainly unexpected. At first he didn't know how to respond to that. Technically, he was the closest thing to family that he now had. So with a hesitant start, he decided to pretty much be blunt.

"So, what does that mean between you and me? I mean, you know things will never be the way they should have been." Ryuu said in a strange tone. Jiraiya just nodded sadly.

"I know. However, I would like the chance to get to know you. Your father was like a son to me, and I still feel some responsibility to look out for you regardless. Of course things won't be the way that they were supposed to be, but at the very least I would like to be a friend." Jiraiya said now looking at Ryuu directly. Ryuu didn't even need to use his… _talent_, to see that he was being honest.

With a nod, Ryuu started. "Ok, I can live with that. For starters then, how can you help me with Danzo? This is his game right now and I don't have a choice but to play by his rules. By the time I figure out how to cheat, it will probably be too late." Ryuu said in an all business tone, wanting to get the most important stuff out in the open. Ryuu was actually taking a gamble by just openly talking like that, for all he knew Danzo's men could be watching them right now.

Jiraiya nodded. "Sarutobi and I have thought on the matter and come to the same conclusion. If you would like, I can go into detail about the man, but right now it's pretty much irrelevant. However, we can't allow him to know where you two are all the time. So, we both decided to remove some, and alter some of your other seals." Ryuu didn't even try to hide his shock at this.

That could be interpreted as treason, even if the Hokage had his back. For the first time Hinata had something to say, or rather ask.

"Jiraiya-san, how much trouble will you be in for this?" she asked with genuine concern in her voice. She wasn't sure why she cared, but he was still someone to be respected after all, especially since he was planning on going this far for them.

Jiraiya just shrugged.

"Danzo and some of the council will be pissed sure, at both me and the old man. Not only that but this will and is an open insult to the man. However, it's not like anyone can really do anything about it. Sarutobi made his choice, as did I." Jiraiya said while he shrugged. However, that shrug then turned into a wry grin.

"Besides, what can he really do to us? I am a sage, and while the old man isn't what he once was, I wouldn't want to fight him for real. So more or less, if they demand some kind of action, we're just going to shrug and say, 'make us'." That actually got an honest grin out of Ryuu. He could just imagine the look on Hiashi's face at that meeting. Hinata herself couldn't hold back a giggle.

"Anyway, as far as Danzo's forces go, we have never trusted, or really cared for them. I have actually already taken out a few of the teams following you two, and made sure that it will be a while before he realizes it." Ryuu nodded, it made sense, besides, if they were going to go this far, they might as well go all the way.

"Oh, and while we're at it, I might as well give you this right now." Jiraiya said as he passed Ryuu a somewhat large scroll. Ryuu accepted it, but didn't open it, waiting for Jiraiya to explain.

"That holds a number of jutsus and techniques that we thought you should have. If for nothing else so that you can deal with Danzo someday. Because, eventually you will have to kill him, but by then it's our hope that you will be strong enough to do that." Ryuu nodded, truly grateful for that.

"And on that note, I was hoping that I could stay and train the two of you for a bit while you travel. I have much to offer, and would like to get the chance to know you. In fact, I would also like to tell you about your parents." Jiraiya said with a fond tone. Ryuu now couldn't help but feel excited. Jiraiya himself was asking to teach him. Riddick had been an excellent sensei, and a very powerful ninja, but Ryuu doubted that even he could take Jiraiya.

Hinata let out a strange sound that sounded somewhat like a squeak. Jiraiya just smiled at her.

"Yes, I said the two of you. Other than the fact that one way or the other you're going to be his wife someday, you are going to be targeted by Danzo as well." Jiraiya said in a serious tone. Because of that, the two teens were not sure how to take that, did he actually mean that? Or was he just screwing around? In any case, it got a blush out of both of them. After that, Jiraiya laughed.

After they had settled down, Ryuu had a final question before they decided to call it a night. "So, are you and the Hokage not worried about me seeking vengeance? Why would you do this knowing that I may decide to come after you two someday?" Jiraiya suddenly turned serious.

"Simple, we do _owe_ it to you. We owe you the benefit of the doubt to make the right decision. And we owe it to your father as well. It might not be the smart thing to do, but it's definitely the right thing to do. And that was your fathers big _thing_, doing what he thought was right. And screw the consequences." Jiraiya said in a fond tone. "Also, Sarutobi and I both agreed that the right thing would be to let go your own way. You owe Konoha no obligation what so ever, your destiny should and will be your own." Ryuu accepted this. And with that, they turned in for the night, trusting Jiraiya to figure out watch.

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

_Not one of my greatest chapters, but I felt it was important. Especially because of all the grief I've been getting concerning Ryuu's sudden shift in personality. Though I think I could have done it a little better, I had wanted it to be a surprise. Or rather, it was an idea I had on a new way to write something, but obviously I failed. Anyway, review and ask questions and I will answer._

_Also, if you don't like the way this story is going…Fuck You. It's my story, so HA!_


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